The Tigris–Euphrates river system is a large river system in Western Asia that flows into the Persian Gulf . Its primary rivers are the Tigris and Euphrates , along with smaller tributaries .
93-603: From their sources and upper courses in the Armenian Highlands of eastern Turkey , the rivers descend through valleys and gorges to the uplands of Syria and northern Iraq and then to the alluvial plain of central Iraq. Other tributaries join the Tigris from sources in the Zagros Mountains to the east. The rivers flow in a south-easterly direction through the central plain and combine at Al-Qurnah to form
186-414: A bull shark may give birth to 1 to 13 live young. They are viviparous , born live and free-swimming. The young are about 70 cm (27.6 in) at birth. The bull shark does not rear its young; the young bull sharks are born into flat, protected areas. Coastal lagoons, river mouths, and other low-salinity estuaries are common nursery habitats. The male bull shark is able to begin reproducing around
279-442: A bull shark to be in fresh or salt water, however, is its age; as the bull shark ages, its tolerance for very low or high salinity increases. The majority of the newborn or very young bull sharks were found in the freshwater area, whereas the much older bull sharks were found to be in the saltwater areas, as they had developed a much better tolerance for the salinity. Reproduction is one of the reasons why adult bull sharks travel into
372-470: A central region to the history of Armenians , and one of the four geopolitical regions associated with Armenians , the other three being Armenia Minor , Sophene , and Commagene . The highlands are primarily defined by the geographical dispersal of its native inhabitants, the Armenians. Prior to the appearance of nominally Armenian people in historical records, historians have hypothesized that
465-785: A high salt content as in St. Lucia Estuary in South Africa . Bull sharks have been recorded in the Tigris River since at least 1924 as far upriver as Baghdad, and has been rumored to also inhabit the Cahora Bassa lake upstream of the Zambezi . The species has a distinct preference for warm currents. After Hurricane Katrina , many bull sharks were sighted in Lake Pontchartrain . In July 2023 some local fishermen in
558-537: A negative trend in water storage capabilities in the river basin. The combination of diminishing water levels in the Tigris-Euphrates river system and rising sea levels indicates the potential for rapid seawater intrusion in the river basin. This is especially concerning as the demand for clean water increases while the water supply decreases. Currently, the Middle East and North Africa are acknowledged as
651-510: A pregnant shark weighing 347.8 kg (767 lb) and measuring 3 m (10 ft) long was caught in February 2019, followed by another specimen weighing about 350 kg (770 lb) and measuring about the same in length, in January 2020. Unconfirmed reports suggest that the very largest, exceptional specimens can possibly weigh up to 900 kg (2,000 lb). The bull shark
744-445: A rectal gland which functions in the excretion of excess salts accumulated as a consequence of living in seawater. Bull sharks in freshwater environments decrease the salt-excretory activity of the rectal gland, thereby conserving sodium and chloride. The kidneys produce large amounts of dilute urine, but also play an important role in the active reabsorption of solutes into the blood. The gills of bull sharks are likely to be involved in
837-419: A result of its invention of the qanat system thousands of years ago which uses gravity to transport water through subterranean tunnels, Iran has a history as an agricultural nation, despite its aridity. The most abundant fishes are species of barbs ( Barbus ), some of which can reach up to two meters in length. Some species have been important food sources for residents for thousands of years. Specifically,
930-412: Is a marine apex predator , capable of taking a variety of prey. The bull shark's diet consists mainly of bony fish and small sharks, including other bull sharks, and stingrays. Their diet can also include turtles, birds, dolphins, terrestrial mammals, crustaceans , and echinoderms . They hunt in murky waters where it is harder for the prey to see the shark coming. Bull sharks have been known to use
1023-492: Is able to discriminate between colors of mesh netting that is present underwater. It was found that bull sharks tended to avoid mesh netting of bright colors rather than colors that blended in with the water. Bright yellow mesh netting was found to be easily avoided when it was placed in the path of the bull shark. This was found to be the reason that sharks are attracted to bright yellow survival gear rather than ones that were painted black. In 2008, researchers tagged and recorded
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#17327654912801116-637: Is about 400,000 km . Historically, the Armenian highlands have been the scene of great volcanic activity. Geologically recent volcanism on the area has resulted in large volcanic formations and a series of massifs and tectonic movement has formed the three largest lakes in the Highlands: Lake Sevan , Lake Van , and Lake Urmia . The Armenian highlands are rich in water resources. The central, axial chain of Armenian highland ridges, running from west to east across Western Armenia ,
1209-703: Is also traditionally believed to be one of the possible locations of the Garden of Eden . The Armenian Plateau has been called the "epicenter of the Iron Age ", since it appears to be the location of the first appearance of Iron Age metallurgy in the late 2nd millennium BC . In the Early Iron Age , the Kingdom of Van controlled much of the region, until it was overthrown by the Medes and Orontid dynasty . In
1302-803: Is called the Anti-Taurus . In the west, the Anti-Taurus departs to the north from the Central (Cilician) Taurus, and, passing right in the middle of the Armenian plateau, parallel to the Eastern (Armenian) Taurus , ends in the east at the Ararat peaks. To the west is the Anatolian plateau , which rises slowly from the lowland coast of the Aegean Sea and converges with the Armenian highlands to
1395-553: Is commonly found worldwide in coastal areas of warm oceans, in rivers and lakes , and occasionally salt and freshwater streams if they are deep enough. It is found to a depth of 150 m (490 ft), but does not usually swim deeper than 30 m (98 ft). In the Atlantic , it is found from Massachusetts to southern Brazil , and from Morocco to Angola . Populations of bull sharks are also found in several major rivers, with more than 500 bull sharks thought to be living in
1488-575: Is in present-day eastern Anatolia , and also includes northwestern Iran, all of Armenia, southern Georgia , and western Azerbaijan. Its northeastern parts are also known as Lesser Caucasus , which is a center of Armenian culture . Regardless of its topography, the Armenian highlands are primarily defined by the geographical dispersal of its native inhabitants, the Armenians. From 4000 to 1000 BC, tools and trinkets of copper, bronze and iron were commonly produced in this region and traded in neighboring lands where those metals were less abundant. It
1581-579: Is listed as a vulnerable species on the IUCN Red List and the population is currently reported as decreasing. Despite their status, the species isn't named as a protected species. Threats to the bull shark are numerous, such as getting caught in fishing nets, overfishing for their oil, skin, and meat, pollution to their habitat, and more. In many areas of the world, including Australia and South Africa, there are shark-culling measures around beaches to prevent attacks on beach-goers. Researchers tried to fix
1674-583: Is one of the causes of bull shark populations continuing to decrease. Bull sharks are currently listed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List. Bull sharks are euryhaline and can thrive in both salt and fresh water. They are known to travel far up rivers, and have been known to travel up the Mississippi River as far as Alton, Illinois , about 1,100 kilometres (700 mi) from the ocean, but few freshwater interactions with humans have been recorded. Larger-sized bull sharks are probably responsible for
1767-469: Is scarce, sharks digest for a much longer period of time in order to avoid starvation. As part of their survival mechanism, bull sharks will regurgitate the food in their stomachs in order to escape from a predator. This is a distraction tactic; if the predator moves to eat the regurgitated food the bull shark can use the opportunity to escape. Bull sharks mate during late summer and early autumn, often in bays and estuaries. After gestating for 12 months,
1860-687: Is shared between Turkey, Syria, Iraq, and Iran. Many tributaries of the Tigris river originate in Iran, and the Shatt al-Arab, formed by the confluence of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, makes up a portion of the Iran–Iraq border , with Kuwait's Bubiyan Island being part of its delta. Since the 1960s and in the 1970s, when Turkey began the GAP project in earnest, water disputes have regularly occurred in addition to
1953-581: The Epic of Gilgamesh , the land of Aratta is placed in a geographic space that could be describing the Armenian plateau. In Antiquity , the population living on the Highlands was ethnically diverse, but in the Achaemenid period (550–330 BC), Armenian-speakers came to prominence. Recent studies have shown that Armenians are indigenous to the Armenian highlands and form a distinct genetic isolate in
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#17327654912802046-671: The Ararat Valley where Mount Ararat is located. Western Armenia is nowadays referred to as eastern Anatolia , and Eastern Armenia as the Lesser Caucasus or Caucasus Minor, and historically as the Anti-Caucasus, meaning "opposite the Caucasus". During the Iron Age , the region was known by variations of the name Ararat ( Urartu , Uruatri , Urashtu ). Later, the Highlands were known as Armenia Major ,
2139-666: The Armenian upland , Armenian plateau , or Armenian tableland ) is the most central and the highest of the three plateaus that together form the northern sector of West Asia . Clockwise starting from the west, the Armenian highlands are bounded by the Anatolian plateau , the Caucasus , the Kura-Aras lowlands , the Iranian Plateau , and Mesopotamia . The highlands are divided into western and eastern regions, defined by
2232-689: The Atchafalaya River have reported increasing numbers. Bull sharks have occasionally gone as far upstream in the Mississippi River as Alton, Illinois . Bull sharks have also been found in the Potomac River in Maryland . From 1996 to 2013, a golf course lake at Carbrook , Logan City , Queensland, Australia was the home to several bull sharks. They were trapped following a flood of the Logan and Albert Rivers in 1996, and resided in
2325-538: The Brisbane River . One was reportedly seen swimming the flooded streets of Brisbane , Queensland, Australia , during the 2010–11 Queensland floods . Several were sighted in one of the main streets of Goodna , Queensland, shortly after the peak of the January 2011, floods. A large bull shark was caught in the canals of Scarborough , just north of Brisbane within Moreton Bay. Still greater numbers are in
2418-463: The Caucasus and Eastern Armenia at the expense of its suzerain, Qajar Iran , after four major wars spanning more than two centuries. The Highlands saw a massive demographic shift after the Armenian genocide and fall of the Ottoman Empire, with Western Armenia being relabeled "Eastern Anatolia". Since the Armenian genocide and partitioning of the Ottoman Empire after World War I ,
2511-512: The Committee of Union and Progress as part of their Turkification policies. Today, the eastern half is mainly inhabited by Armenians , Azerbaijanis , and Georgians , while the western half is mainly inhabited by Armenians (included crypto-Armenians and Hemshins ), Kurds (including Yazidis and Zazas ), Turks, and Azerbaijanis . The region was administered for most of its known history by Armenian nobility and states , whether it
2604-541: The Ganges , Bramaputra, Mahanadi, and other Indian rivers and have bitten bathers. Many of these bite incidents were attributed to the Ganges shark , Glyphis gangeticus , a critically endangered river shark species, although the sand tiger shark was also blamed during the 1960s and 1970s. Bull sharks have also attacked humans off the coast of Florida. Behavioral studies have confirmed that sharks can take visual cues to discriminate between different objects. The bull shark
2697-595: The Iran cave barb ( Iranocypris typhlops ) and the Zagros blind loach ( Eidinemacheilus smithi ), are endemic to cave systems in Iran's upper Karun River watershed. The Batman River loach ( Paraschistura chrysicristinae ) is a Critically Endangered fish species endemic to the Batman and Ambar rivers, Turkish tributaries of the Tigris. The species is endangered by drought, habitat destruction , and habitat fragmentation from
2790-556: The Jersey Shore shark attacks of 1916 . While it is a common misconception that these attacks were the inspiration for the novel Jaws , its author Peter Benchley has stated this is not the case. The speculation that bull sharks may have been responsible is based on two fatal bites occurring in brackish and fresh water. Bull sharks have attacked swimmers around the Sydney Harbour inlets. In India, bull sharks swim up
2883-822: The Joint Trilateral Committee on water for the three nations for better water resources management. Turkey, Iraq and Syria signed a memorandum of understanding on September 3, 2009, in order to strengthen communication within the Tigris–Euphrates Basin and to develop joint water-flow-monitoring stations. On September 19, 2009, Turkey formally agreed to increase the flow of the Euphrates River to 450 to 500 m/s , but only until October 20, 2009. In exchange, Iraq agreed to trade petroleum with Turkey and help curb Kurdish militant activity in their border region. One of Turkey's last large GAP dams on
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2976-502: The Mangar fish has been harvested for food in the Tigris-Euphrates basin. Many species move seasonally between the river and the marshes for spawning, feeding, and overwintering. The Hilsa shad ( Tenualosa ilisha ) is an important food fish that lives in the coastal waters and spawns in the lower reaches of the basin. Other ocean species occasionally visit the lower reaches of the rivers; bull sharks ( Carcharhinus leucas ) used to swim up
3069-658: The Marsh Arabs , were almost completely drained . Although they had started to recover after the fall of Ba'athist Iraq in 2003, drought, intensive dam construction and irrigation schemes upstream have caused them to dry up once more. According to the United Nations Environmental Program and the AMAR Charitable Foundation , between 84% and 90% of the marshes have been destroyed since the 1970s. In 1994, 60 percent of
3162-593: The Shatt al-Arab and discharge into the Persian Gulf. The rivers and their tributaries drain an area of 879,790 square kilometres (339,690 sq mi), including almost the entire area of Iraq as well as portions of Turkey , Syria , and Iran . The region has historical importance as part of the Fertile Crescent region , where Mesopotamian civilization first emerged. The Tigris–Euphrates Basin
3255-598: The Zambezi shark (informally zambi ) in Africa and Lake Nicaragua shark in Nicaragua , is a species of requiem shark commonly found worldwide in warm, shallow waters along coasts and in rivers. It is known for its aggressive nature, and presence mainly in warm, shallow brackish and freshwater systems including estuaries and (usually) lower reaches of rivers . Their aggressive nature has led to ongoing shark-culling efforts near beaches to protect beachgoers, which
3348-539: The bump-and-bite technique to attack their prey. After the first initial contact, they continue to bite and tackle prey until the prey is unable to flee. The bull shark is a solitary hunter, though may briefly pair with another bull shark to make hunting and tricking prey easier. Sharks are opportunistic feeders, and the bull shark is no exception to this, as it is part of the Carcharhinus family of sharks. Normally, sharks eat in short bursts, and when food
3441-414: The stingrays ( Dasyatidae , Potamotrygonidae and others) and sawfish ( Pristidae ). Some skates ( Rajidae ), smooth dogfishes ( Triakidae ), and sandbar sharks ( Carcharhinus plumbeus ) regularly enter estuaries. The bull shark is diadromous , meaning they can swim between salt and fresh water with ease, as they are euryhaline fish—able to quickly adapt to a wide range of salinities. Thus,
3534-539: The 1960s when Turkey implemented a public-works project (the GAP project ) aimed at harvesting the water from the Tigris and Euphrates rivers through the construction of 22 dams, for irrigation and hydroelectric energy purposes. Although the water dispute between Turkey and Syria was more problematic, the GAP project was also perceived as a threat by Iraq. In 1983, the Joint Technical Committee (JTC)
3627-454: The 51 acres (21 ha) lake until 2013, when they disappeared after another series of floods. The golf course capitalized on the novelty, changing their logo to feature the sharks and hosting a monthly tournament called the "Shark Lake Challenge". The bull shark is the best known of 43 species of elasmobranch , across 10 genera and four families, to have been reported in fresh and/or brackish water. Other species that enter rivers include
3720-503: The Euphrates are very fertile. Marshy land is home to water birds, some stopping here while migrating, and some spending the winter in these marshes living off the lizards, snakes, frogs, and fish. Other animals found in these marshes are water buffalo , two endemic rodent species, antelopes and gazelles and small animals such as the jerboa and several other mammals. The wetland birds Basra reed warbler ( Acrocephalus griseldis ) and Iraq babbler ( Argya altirostris ) are endemic to
3813-478: The Euphrates, Tigris, and Karun rivers converge to create the Mesopotamian Marshes , which include permanent lakes, marshes, and riparian forests . The hydrology of these vast marshes is extremely important to the ecology of the entire upper Persian Gulf . Some of the first civilizations emerged from the confluence of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. From ancient times empires arose and fell in
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3906-585: The Highlands have been the boundary region of Turkey, Iran and the Soviet Union and, since the 1991 dissolution of the Soviet Union , Armenia , and parts of Georgia and Azerbaijan . The apricot , known by the Romans as the prunus armenicus (the Armenian plum), was brought to Europe from the Armenian plateau. Bull shark The bull shark ( Carcharhinus leucas ), also known as
3999-629: The Highlands saw the migrations of the Karluk and Kharizmian peoples. The Mongols, who did not distinguish between Christianity and Islam , reached the Highlands in 1235. With their arrival, Armenia became part of "the East" in its entirety for the first time since the territory was partitioned during the Byzantine–Sasanian wars . Considered the successors of the Abbasids , Sassanids and Seljuks,
4092-647: The Mesopotamian Marshes. The Basra reed warbler is endangered. Another wetland endemic species, Bunn's short-tailed bandicoot rat ( Nesokia bunnii ), is possibly extinct. Their drainage began in the 1950s, to reclaim land for agriculture and oil exploration. Saddam Hussein extended this work in the late 1980s and early 1990s, as part of ecological warfare against the Marsh Arabs, a rebellious group of people in Baathist Iraq. However, with
4185-806: The Mongols eventually converted to Islam and established their dynasty in modern day Azerbaijan . In 1410 the area was ruled by the Kara Koyunlu , who ruled until 1468. The pastoral culture of the Kara Koyunlu Turks undermined agricultural practices in Armenia. In 1468, the Ak Koyunlu Turks assumed power; their reign lasted until 1502 when the Safavids brought Armenia under Iranian rule. The Ottoman Turks did not take control of
4278-545: The Tigris as far as Baghdad. Endemic fish species in the lower basin include Glyptothorax steindachneri and Hemigrammocapoeta elegans , and as well as two cave fishes, Caecocypris basimi and the Iraq blind barb ( Typhlogarra widdowsoni ), from a cave habitat near Haditha on the Euphrates. One-third of the fish species in the upper watersheds are endemic, including species of Aphanius , Glyptothorax , Cobitis , Orthrias , and Schistura . Two blind fish species,
4371-759: The Tigris – the Ilisu Dam – is strongly opposed by Iraq and is the source of political strife. The Southeastern Anatolia Project (Turkish acronym: GAP) continues to be a source of tension in the region. GAP is a massive hydroelectric project, consisting of 21 dams and 19 hydroelectric facilities. In 2020, Iraqi authorities complained that the Ilısu Dam had decreased the Tigris river inflows and caused water shortages in Iraqi plains. Armenian Highlands The Armenian highlands ( Armenian : Հայկական լեռնաշխարհ , romanized : Haykakan leṙnašxarh ; also known as
4464-526: The Tigris–Euphrates basin and once covered 15–20,000 square kilometers. In the 1980s, this ecoregion was put in grave danger during the Iran–Iraq War . After the 1991 Gulf War , Iraq's President Saddam Hussein initiated a drainage project on these marshes, leading to degradation of ecosystem services that caused economic and social issues for civilians. The Mesopotamian Marshes , which were inhabited by
4557-525: The added cost of greater negative buoyancy. Bull sharks are able to regulate themselves to live in either fresh or salt water. It can live in fresh water for its entire life, but this does not happen, mostly due to the reproductive needs of the shark. Young bull sharks leave the brackish water in which they are born and move out into the sea to breed. While is theoretically possible for bull sharks to live purely in fresh water, experiments conducted on bull sharks found that they died within four years. The stomach
4650-461: The age of 15 years while the female cannot begin reproducing until the age of 18 years. The size of a fully matured female bull shark to produce viable eggs for fertilization seems to be 175 cm to 235 cm. The courting routine between bull sharks has not been observed in detail as of yet. The male likely bites the female on the tail until she can turn upside down and the male can copulate at that point. Mature females commonly have scratches from
4743-487: The associated dam's effects on the environment. In addition, Syrian and Iranian dam construction has also contributed to political tension within the basin, particularly during drought. The ecoregion is characterized by two large rivers, the Tigris and Euphrates . The high mountains in the upper watershed receive more rain and snow than the lower watershed, which has a hot and arid subtropical climate. Annual snow melt from
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#17327654912804836-431: The biggest threat to bull sharks. Larger sharks, such as the tiger shark and great white shark , may attack them, but typically only target juveniles. Crocodiles may be a threat to bull sharks in rivers. Saltwater crocodiles have been observed preying on bull sharks in the rivers and estuaries of Northern Australia , and a Nile crocodile was reportedly sighted consuming a bull shark in South Africa. The bull shark
4929-628: The breaching of the dikes by local communities after the 2003 invasion of Iraq and the ending of a four-year drought that same year, the process has been reversed and the marshes have experienced a substantial rate of recovery. The permanent wetlands now cover more than 50% of pre-1970s levels, with a remarkable regrowth of the Hammar and Hawizeh Marshes and some recovery of the Central Marshes . Iraq suffers from desertification and soil salination due in large part to thousands of years of agricultural activity. Water and plant life are sparse. Saddam Hussein 's government water-control projects drained
5022-452: The bull shark from the rest of the Elasmobranchii subclass and favored the genes for an osmoregulatory system. Elasmobranchs' ability to enter fresh water is limited because their blood is normally at least as salty (in terms of osmotic strength ) as seawater through the accumulation of urea and trimethylamine oxide , but bull sharks living in fresh water show a significantly reduced concentration of urea within their blood. Despite this,
5115-447: The bull shark is one of the few cartilaginous fishes that have been reported in freshwater systems. Many of the euryhaline fish are bony fishes, such as salmon or tilapia , and are not closely related to bull sharks. Evolutionary assumptions can be made to help explain this sort of evolutionary disconnect, with one being that the bull shark experienced a population bottleneck during the last ice age . This bottleneck may have separated
5208-434: The bull shark may be confused with the Sundarbans or Ganges shark . In Africa, it is also commonly called the Zambezi River shark, or just "zambi". Its wide range and diverse habitats result in many other local names, including Ganges River shark, Fitzroy Creek whaler, van Rooyen's shark, Lake Nicaragua shark, river shark, freshwater whaler, estuary whaler, Swan River whaler, cub shark, and shovelnose shark. Some of
5301-649: The bull shark's closest living relatives do not have the capabilities of osmoregulation . Its genus, Carcharhinus , also includes the sandbar shark , which is not capable of osmoregulation. The bull shark shares numerous similarities with river sharks of the genus Glyphis , and other species in the genus Carcharhinus , but its phylogeny has not been cleared yet. Bull sharks are large and stout, with females being larger than males. The bull shark can be up to 81 cm (2 ft 8 in) in length at birth. Adult female bull sharks average 2.4 m (8 ft) long and typically weigh 130 kg (290 lb), whereas
5394-512: The canals of the Gold Coast, Queensland . In the warmer months of the year, bull sharks frequent Sydney Harbour . In the Pacific Ocean , it can be found from Baja California to Ecuador . The bull shark has traveled 4,000 km (2,500 mi) up the Amazon River to Iquitos in Peru and north Bolivia . It also lives in freshwater Lake Nicaragua , in the Ganges and Brahmaputra Rivers of West Bengal , and Assam in Eastern India and adjoining Bangladesh . It can live in water with
5487-408: The construction of the Batman Dam . It had not been observed since 1974 and was feared extinct until a 2021 expedition netted 14 fish living above the Batman Dam. The Mesopotamian Marshes in southern Iraq were historically the largest wetland ecosystem of Western Eurasia . The aquatic vegetation includes reeds , rushes , and papyrus , which support numerous species. Areas around the Tigris and
5580-563: The drought affected Turkey, Syria and Iran as well, Iraq complained regularly about reduced water flows. Iraq particularly complained about the Euphrates River because of the large number of dams on the river. Turkey agreed to increase the flow several times, beyond its means in order to supply Iraq with extra water. Iraq has seen significant declines in water storage and crop yields because of the drought. To make matters worse, Iraq's water infrastructure has suffered from years of conflict and neglect. In 2008, Turkey, Iraq and Syria agreed to restart
5673-414: The early modern era and on, the region came directly under Safavid Iranian rule. Heavily contested for centuries between the Iranian Safavids and its archrival the Ottoman Empire , with numerous wars raging over the region, large parts of the Highlands comprising Western Armenia were finally conquered by the Ottomans in the first half of the 17th century following the Ottoman–Safavid War (1623–39) and
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#17327654912805766-420: The early seventh-century C.E. document called the Ašxarhac‘oyc‘ ("Geography"). The earlier Arab geographers know Armenia (Arminīya) under this definition, but the Muslim geographers of the late Middle Ages know Armenia as a much more restricted area, effectively the regions of Lake Van, Erzurum , and the upper Aras in Azerbaijan ( Adhharbāyjān ). According to Britannica Online , most of the Armenian highlands
5859-431: The east of Cappadocia . The Caucasus extends to the northeast of the Armenian highlands, with the Kura river forming its eastern boundary in the Kura-Aras lowlands . To its southeast is the Iranian plateau , where the elevation drops rapidly by about 600 metres (2,000 ft) to 1,500 metres (5,000 ft) above sea level. To the southwest is Mesopotamia (or Fertile Crescent ). According to Thomas A. Sinclair in
5952-414: The highest among all investigated cartilaginous fishes. In early June 2012, off the coast of the Florida Keys near the western part of the Atlantic Ocean , a female believed to measure at least 2.4 m (8 ft) and 360–390 kg (800–850 lb) was caught by members of the R.J. Dunlap Marine Conservation Program. In the Arabian Sea , off the coast of Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates ,
6045-413: The highland region until 1514, several decades after Armenians in the Ottoman Empire were given millet status. The Highlands came under Ottoman control following the defeat of the Safavids at the Battle of Chalderon ; they appointed Kurdish tribesman to rule over the highlands' local administrative affairs. By 1516, the Ottoman Empire had invaded all of the Armenian lands, including Cilicia. From
6138-415: The inhabited marsh areas east of An Nasiriyah by drying up or diverting streams and rivers. Shi'a Muslims were displaced under the Ba'athist regime. The destruction of the natural habitat poses serious threats to the area's wildlife populations. There are also inadequate supplies of potable water. The marshlands were an extensive natural wetland ecosystem , which developed over thousands of years in
6231-498: The lake have later been caught in the open ocean (and vice versa), with some taking as few as seven to 11 days to complete the journey. A study of six bull sharks confined to a stagnant golf course lake in Brisbane, Australia , from 1996 to 2013 uncovered their adaptability to low-salinity environments, marking the longest recorded residency for the species under such conditions, and demonstrating their ability to live indefinitely in low-salinity aquatic environments. The bull shark
6324-440: The largest of the requiem sharks . Bull sharks are wider and heavier than other requiem sharks of comparable length, and are grey on top and white below. The second dorsal fin is smaller than the first. The bull shark's caudal fin is longer and lower than that of the larger sharks, and it has a small snout , and lacks an interdorsal ridge. Bull sharks have a bite force up to 5,914 newtons (1,330 lbf), weight for weight
6417-482: The majority of nearshore shark attacks , including many incidents of shark bites attributed to other species. Unlike the river sharks of the genus Glyphis , bull sharks are not true freshwater sharks , despite their ability to survive in freshwater habitats. This shark appears in the image of the 2000 colones bill from Costa Rica . The name "bull shark" comes from the shark's stocky shape, broad, flat snout, and aggressive, unpredictable behavior. In India,
6510-411: The marshes led to the disappearance of the salt-tolerant vegetation ; the plankton rich waters that fertilized surrounding soils; 52 native fish species; the wild boar , red fox , buffalo and water birds of the marsh habitat. Climate change also affects the environmental and social well-being.Climate change and human interaction have directly impacted the Tigris-Euphrates river system, leading to
6603-440: The mating process. Since bull sharks often dwell in very shallow waters, are found in many types of habitats, are territorial by nature, and have no tolerance for provocation, they may be more dangerous to humans than any other species of shark. Bull sharks are one of the three shark species (along with the tiger shark and great white shark ) most likely to bite humans. One or several bull sharks may have been responsible for
6696-430: The most water scarce region in the world, with 61% of the population living in areas with high or very high water stress. As climate change worsens and population grows, water scarcity in the region is expected to worsen with 100% of people living in the Middle East and North Africa living in areas with high water stress by 2050. The issue of water rights became a point of contention for Iraq, Turkey and Syria beginning in
6789-462: The mountains brings spring floods, and sustains permanent and seasonal marshes in the lowlands. The plain between the two rivers is known as Mesopotamia . As part of the larger Fertile Crescent , it saw the earliest emergence of literate urban civilization in the Uruk period . For this reason, it is often described as a " Cradle of Civilization ". There is a large floodplain in the lower basin where
6882-490: The movements of young bull sharks in the Caloosahatchee River estuary. They were testing to find out what determined the movement of the young bull sharks. It was found that the young bull sharks synchronously moved downriver when the environmental conditions changed. This large movement of young bull sharks were found to be moving as a response rather than other external factors such as predators. The movement
6975-598: The peninsula until finally the Ottoman Empire was declared in 1299. The Seljuks' victory at the Battle of Manzikert made them dominant in the region. Ruben I, Prince of Armenia , led some Armenians out of the Highlands and escaped into the mountains of Cilicia , where they founded the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia . In the early 13th century, as various peoples fled from the advancing Mongol onslaught,
7068-477: The problem of sharks getting too close to land by testing out a device called the SharkSafe Barrier™. This barrier used magnetic and visual stimuli, which utilized rows of piping to create a continuous magnetic field to deter the sharks. However, researchers concluded that the technology needs to be improved upon and tested further before it can be implemented as a reliable safety measure. Other research
7161-408: The region must have been home to various ethnic groups who became homogenous when the Armenian language came to prominence. The population of the Armenian highlands seem to have had a high level of regional genetic continuity for over 6,000 years. Recent studies have shown that the Armenian people descend from the indigenous people of the Armenian highlands and form a distinct genetic isolate in
7254-480: The region. The region was also inhabited during Antiquity by minorities such as Assyrians , Georgians , Greeks , Jews , and Iranians . During the Middle Ages , Arabs and particularly Turkmens and Kurds settled in large numbers in the Armenian highlands. The Christian population of the western half of the region was exterminated during the Armenian genocide (1915–1917), organized and perpetrated by
7347-418: The region. There are signs of considerable genetic admixture in Armenians between 3000 BC and 2000 BC , these mixture dates also coincide with the legendary establishment of Armenia in 2492 BCE, but they subside to insignificant levels since 1200 BC, remaining stable until today. Seljuk Turks first arrived in the Armenian highlands in the 1040s and expanded westward, conquering territories and populating
7440-606: The resulting Treaty of Zuhab . Eastern Armenia , the other major part of the Highlands, stayed in Iranian hands up to the 1828 Treaty of Turkmenchay , when it was ceded to Imperial Russia . During the first half of the 19th century, the Ottoman-held parts of the Armenian highlands comprising Western Armenia formed the boundary of the Ottoman and Russian spheres of influence, after the latter had completed its conquest of
7533-492: The river basin, including Sumer , Akkad , Babylonia , Assyria , and the Abbasid Caliphate . Being part of the Fertile Crescent , the river system is recognized as the site of one of the world's first agricultural centers, with areological sites containing preserved grain dating up to 12,500 years ago. The river system was used by major cities including Ur and Babylon to promote trade and the sharing of cultures. As
7626-667: The river—it is thought to be a physiological strategy to improve juvenile survival and a way to increase overall fitness of bull sharks. The young are not born with a high tolerance for high salinity, so they are born in fresh water and stay there until they are able to travel out. Initially, scientists thought the sharks in Lake Nicaragua belonged to an endemic species, the Lake Nicaragua shark ( Carcharhinus nicaraguensis ). In 1961, following specimen comparisons, taxonomists synonymized them. Bull sharks tagged inside
7719-414: The slightly smaller adult male averages 2.25 m (7 ft) and 95 kg (209 lb). While a maximum size of 3.5 m (11 ft) is commonly reported, a single record exists of a female specimen of exactly 4.0 m (13 ft). A 3.25 m (10.7 ft) long pregnant individual reached 450 kg (990 lb). The maximum weight can be over 600 kg (1,300 lb), ranking it among
7812-454: The solute composition (i.e. osmolarity) of a bull shark in fresh water is still much higher than that of the external environment. This results in a large influx of water across the gills due to osmosis and loss of sodium and chloride from the shark's body. However, bull sharks in fresh water possess several organs with which to maintain appropriate salt and water balance; these are the rectal gland, kidneys, liver, and gills. All elasmobranchs have
7905-604: The third edition of the Encyclopaedia of Islam : It occupied a large part of present-day Turkey, the whole of the territory of the present Republic of Armenia, further districts, now in the Republic of Azerbaijan , immediately adjacent to the east, and the northwest corner of modern Iran . The preceding is the definition of Armenia assumed in texts of the Classical and Late Classical periods and laid out explicitly in
7998-540: The uptake of sodium and chloride from the surrounding fresh water, whereas urea is produced in the liver as required with changes in environmental salinity. Recent work also shows that the differences in density of fresh water to that of marine waters result in significantly greater negative buoyancies in sharks occupying fresh water, resulting in increasing costs of living in fresh water. Bull sharks caught in freshwater have subsequently been shown to have lower liver densities than sharks living in marine waters. This may reduce
8091-400: The wetlands were destroyed by Hussein's regime – drained to permit military access and greater political control of the native Marsh Arabs . Canals, dykes and dams were built routing the water of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers around the marshes, instead of allowing water to move slowly through the marshland. After part of the Euphrates was dried up due to re-routing its water to the sea, a dam
8184-576: Was as part of a fully independent Armenian state, as vassals, or as part of a foreign state. Since the 1040s, the highlands have been under the rule of various Turkic peoples and the Safavid dynasty , with pockets of Armenian autonomy in places such as Artsakh . Much of Eastern Armenia , which had been ruled by the Safavids from the 16th century, became part of the Russian Empire in 1828 and
8277-504: Was built so water could not back up from the Tigris and sustain the former marshland. Some marshlands were burned and pipes buried underground helped to carry away water for quicker drying. Riparian entities have constructed dams along the Tigris-Euphrates river system as a method of water management in response to droughts. Turkey, for example, is in control of an estimated 45% of the system's water sources due to its dam constructions for water quantity and hydroelectric power. The drying of
8370-713: Was established to solve ongoing data controversies between Turkey, Syria, and Iraq but stopped meeting in the early 1990s after only passing two bilateral agreements. The tension between Turkey and Iraq about the issue was increased by the effect of Syria and Turkey's participation in the UN embargo against Iraq following the Gulf War . However, the issue had never become as significant as the water dispute between Turkey and Syria. The 2008 drought in Iraq sparked new negotiations between Iraq and Turkey over trans-boundary river flows. Although
8463-406: Was found to be directly related to the bull shark conserving energy for itself. One way the bull shark is able to conserve energy is that when the tidal flow changes, the bull shark uses the tidal flow in order to conserve energy as it moves downriver. Another way for the bull shark to conserve energy is to decrease the amount of energy needed to osmoregulate the surrounding environment. Humans are
8556-663: Was later incorporated into the Soviet Union , while much of Western Armenia was under the rule of the Ottoman Empire and later incorporated into modern Turkey . Today, the region is divided between Armenia , Azerbaijan , Iran , and Turkey. The Armenian highlands is part of the Alpide belt , forming part of the Eurasian range that stretches from the Pontic Mountains to the Malay Peninsula . Its total area
8649-410: Was opened and all that was found were two small, unidentifiable fishes. The cause of death could have been starvation since the primary food source for bull sharks resides in salt water. In a research experiment, the bull sharks were found to be at the mouth of an estuary for the majority of the time. They stayed at the mouth of the river independent of the salinity of the water. The driving factor for
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