Scientists Spot A Way To Put Bite On Sharks' Extinction

A NEW method of identifying and recording individual whale sharks could help save the giant fish from extinction. Scientists have discovered that the sharks -- considered a threatened species internationally -- can be tracked by the unique patterns of spots on their skin. The new technique involves photographing an area of their skin behind their gill slits and feeding the images into a special computer program that can distinguish the subtle differences between them and identify in dividual sharks using pattern-recognition tools.