Aquarium of the Pacific

Aquarium Event

Shark Research at the Top of the World

George Benz

Dr. George Benz will discuss ongoing Greenland shark research from the perspective of the Arctic as a beautiful, intellectually stimulating, globally significant, and highly complex ecosystem.

He will tell us about ongoing collaborative studies of Greenland sharks that are accumulating data suggesting that this shark plays an important ecological role in both Arctic and sub-Arctic waters. Greenland sharks are known to live under land-fast sea ice and are believed to be the only shark species routinely inhabiting true Arctic waters. However, as with so many Arctic phenomena, the ecological role of the Greenland shark may soon be altered due to Arctic warming that is predicted to result in an “ice-free” Arctic seascape for much of the year.

Prior to his current position as a professor of biology at Middle Tennessee State University, Dr. Benz was employed at Tennessee Aquarium. There he held positions as the Aquarium’s curator of fishes and then as chief research scientist. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of British Columbia.

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