Mysterious Shark Skin Disease Could Be Linked to Warmer Water

A mysterious skin disease is inflicting Malaysia's reef sharks and researchers suspect it's associated with warming waters. Off of Sipadan Island, divers have noticed sharks with major skin lesions around their heads. The disease was reportedly first spotted in the area a year ago and an initial effort to trap and take specimens from sharks failed, but scientists hypothesize that the wounds could be caused by a fungal infection that can come from warming waters. We can almost certainly paint the warming oceans as having a role in what we are seeing with the sickly sharks in Sipadan. Water temperatures around the island have increased 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit since 1985 and the area is known for being well protected from fishing and far away from human settlements, making the warming waters an even more likely culprit. The geographical location of Sipadan in the middle of nowhere with limited and controlled human activities means that the marine water quality there is not affected by domestic wastewater and other land-based sources. There have also been reports of coral bleaching in the area, another event that is often caused by warming waters. We cannot ignore that things are happening there. Changes are happening there due to higher temperatures and of course we also understand our earth is increasing in temperatures by one or two degrees Celsius in a decade and so on. So these things are real.