The Elasmos: A Shark’s Universe Podcast
If you had to name one ‘thing’ that piqued your interest the most, what would it be? It might be music, space, hairdressing, or any number of topics.
For me, this ‘thing’ is the ocean. More specifically, it’s elasmobranchs, which is the group of fish that includes sharks, rays, skates, and sawfishes. Sharks fascinate me so much, in fact, that I created a podcast to share my love for them called The Elasmos: A Shark’s Universe Podcast.
What I’ve come to realize in my years of trying to figure out my ‘passion’ or my ‘calling’ is that the process of learning is what draws us deeper into a subject, a hobby, or even a career. People fall in love with making music because there’s always a new song to play or create, with space because of the potential to explore the unknown, with hairdressing because of a new hairstyle to master (sorry, I don’t know that much about hairdressing).
As I began to explore my interest in all things under the sea during my second try at college – this time for marine biology – I fell in love with the vast complexity of marine life and oceanic ecosystems.
This fascination took off as I learned that sea jellies have simple nervous systems and play an important role in many marine ecosystems as food for sea turtles, which are then food for sharks, commonly for the wellknown tiger shark.
I couldn’t believe it. Those facts blew my mind for two reasons: I couldn’t imagine how a blob of jelly that just floats with the current can feel and sense its surroundings nor could I comprehend that sea jellies were that important, but they are.
Once I realized how complex a simple sea jelly is, I began to wonder about what mysteries my favorite animal, the shark, held.
I first fell in love with sharks at just a few years old when my dad took me on beautiful sunrise beach walks in South Carolina. We would scavenge the large piles of shells in search of the needle in the haystack, a shark tooth.
Something about the unique and distinguishable shape of a shark’s tooth made me wonder about the journey of its owner: what kind of shark did it come from, how long ago was the fish alive, where did it travel, how old was the animal, and countless more curiosities that ran through my young mind.
As I returned to marine biology, the childlike wonder surrounding sharks reignited a desire to learn more about them. But as I learned more, I realized how little I knew about these incredible creatures. And especially after seeing how much more complex sea jellies were than I had originally thought, I could only imagine how complex the ocean’s greatest predator is.
To learn more beyond what college courses could teach me, I had to go straight to the source: shark researchers, conservationists, and enthusiasts. However, I didn’t want this to be a solo journey for a couple of reasons: I want others to be able to see the path that I have taken in my budding oceanic career especially as a nontraditional student, and to replace irrational fears and hatred of sharks with respect and admiration.
Just to clarify, I love the movie Jaws and it grew my fascination with sharks ten fold as it has done so for many other shark fin-atics (puns are essential to science) as my podcast points out. It did and does, however, cause widespread fear of sharks.
A lot of that fear, however, is largely based on the unknown. Most people don’t know how a shark behaves, how and where it swims and why, what their diet is, what their role in the ecosystem is, etc.
If beach-goers and ocean-swimmers took a little time to explore these fundamentals of shark biology, I guarantee that ‘fear’ of sharks would vanish and respect would replace it.
This is why I decided to create a podcast centered around sharks called The Elasmos: A Shark’s Universe podcast. Every episode, I talk to scientists and lifetime shark lovers about the intricacies of their area of expertise within the shark world.
I learn more and more through each conversation, so much so that when I hear “shark!” at the beach, I run towards it to try and get a glimpse of the beautiful animal that has provided many people with a once in a lifetime opportunity to see a wild, graceful shark.
I encourage you to step out of your comfort zone and come join me and my amazing, knowledgeable, and hilarious guests as we explore the unknown universe of sharks together. There is only one way to conquer your fear and that’s to face it head on. So why not have a little fun with it by learning with me as my guests talk about shark personality, conservation, art, collaborative business techniques, and, of course everyone’s favorite, shark week.
In doing so, I hope you think about what piques your interest the most, seek it out, and turn any fear of the unknown into a passionate respect and awe for what is to be discovered.
– Sam McNeely, Host of The Elasmos: A Shark’s
