Uploaded April 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Ireland’s famous basking sharks may be in danger of overheating in our waters.
This is according to research teams from Trinity College Dublin’s department of Zoology department, in the School of Natural Sciences who have been gathering data from basking sharks in Ireland and from some of the ocean’s largest predators around the world for a number of years.
A new study, published in leading international journal Science in April 2026, focusing on “mesothermic” or warm-bodied fishes such as tunas and some sharks, including the legendary Great White and the basking shark, and has shown that they burn nearly four times more energy than their cold-blooded counterparts, meaning they are likely to face an increased risk of overheating as oceans warm.
Dr Nick Payne and Professor Andrew Jackson tell us more about why we should be concerned about the fate of these vital members of our ocean ecosystems, in the face of a changing climate: https://www.tcd.ie/news_events/articles/2026/sharks-warming-seas/
Access the paper in Science: science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adt2981
This research was a collaboration between scientists at Trinity College Dublin and Dr Edward Snelling, an experimental physiologist in the University of Pretoria’s Faculty of Veterinary Science and was supported by funding from Research Ireland, the Marine Institute, Future Legend Films, Oregon State University, and a National Geographic and Human Frontiers Science Project.
Speakers:
Dr Nick Payne, Dr Andrew Jackson
https://www.tcd.ie/
https://www.tcd.ie/news_events/articles/2026/sharks-warming-seas/ science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adt2981
Ireland’s famous basking sharks may be in danger of overheating in our waters.
This is according to research teams from Trinity College Dublin’s department of Zoology department, in the School of Natural Sciences who have been gathering data from basking sharks in Ireland and from some of the ocean’s largest predators around the world for a number of years.
A new study, published in leading international journal Science in April 2026, focusing on “mesothermic” or warm-bodied fishes such as tunas and some sharks, including the legendary Great White and the basking shark, and has shown that they burn nearly four times more energy than their cold-blooded counterparts, meaning they are likely to face an increased risk of overheating as oceans warm.
Dr Nick Payne and Professor Andrew Jackson tell us more about why we should be concerned about the fate of these vital members of our ocean ecosystems, in the face of a changing climate: https://www.tcd.ie/news_events/articles/2026/sharks-warming-seas/
Access the paper in Science: science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adt2981
This research was a collaboration between scientists at Trinity College Dublin and Dr Edward Snelling, an experimental physiologist in the University of Pretoria’s Faculty of Veterinary Science and was supported by funding from Research Ireland, the Marine Institute, Future Legend Films, Oregon State University, and a National Geographic and Human Frontiers Science Project.
Speakers:
Dr Nick Payne, Dr Andrew Jackson
https://www.tcd.ie/
https://www.tcd.ie/news_events/articles/2026/sharks-warming-seas/ science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adt2981
