Assistant Professor of Oceanography Justin Suca and collaborators have published an exciting new study that sheds lights on one of the ocean’s mysterious predators—the cookiecutter shark. The research combines long-term fisheries data with ʻike Hawaiʻi and ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi to reveal clear nighttime and lunar patterns in cookiecutter shark bite activity, offering rare insight into a species that is seldom seen but widely recognized by its distinctive bite marks. The team also proposed a new Hawaiian name for the shark, nahunaiki (“little bites”) and introduced an ʻōlelo noʻeau connecting its behavior to the new moon. Congratulations to Suca et al. in this creative, interdisciplinary work and its meaningful results.

Read the full story in UH News and find the full article published in MEPS