Researchers at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology’s Red Sea Research Center are exploring why sharks, despite their propensity for sustaining horrific wounds in the wild, are seemingly immune to those wounds becoming infected.
The scientists collected skin mucus samples from the backs and gills of wild-caught blacktip reef sharks around the Seychelles Islands in order to analyze microbial communities living on the skin of sharks using gene sequencing.
By identifying the microbiomes, they found no difference between the bacterial communities on injured skin on gills and uninjured gills or backs revealing no evidence of infection around the wounds.
“We were surprised not to find any substantial change in the skin bacterial communities,” said Claudia Pogoreutz, the postdoctoral fellow who led the study. “This suggests shark skin doesn’t become infected easily and that the native bacterial community of the skin can be maintained even after injury,”
The team identified a core skin microbiome that is conserved across blacktip reef sharks, alongside site-specific differences. They also found no changes in the microbiome around wounds, suggesting that they don’t get infected or that any infections are too mild to detect.
More research is needed to determine if these microbiomes actually contribute to the healing process.
“There’s still so much to learn with respect to shark skin-associated bacteria,” says Pogoreutz.
