By Susan Milius
A shortage of big sharks along the U.S. East Coast is letting their prey flourish, and that prey is going hog wild, demolishing bay scallop populations.
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That’s the conclusion of researchers led by the late Ransom Myers of Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, who died this week. Combining census surveys from the past 35 years, Myers’ team found shrinking populations of big sharks and shellfish and increasing numbers of smaller sharks and rays.