All words in bold in the Information Sheets text are words that can be found in the glossary.

• Oesophagus: The tube that takes food from the mouth to the stomach.
• Olfactory: Relating to the sense of smell.
• Oophagy: Embryos eat a supply of unfertilised eggs, which the female continues to produce during pregnancy.

• Organism: Any living thing.
• Overfishing:Fishing beyond a desirable, sustainable or ‘safe’ population or stock level.
• Ovoviviparity: The embryos develop inside eggs in the uterus, and then hatch inside the uterus before being born alive.
• Pandanus trees:A palm like tree or shrub with a crown of spiny leaves.
• Pectoral fins: P aired fins on the side of a fish.
• Pelagic: Living at or near the surface of the open ocean.
• Pelvic fins: Paired fins on the lower edge of a fish immediately behind the head.
• Placoid scales: Scales found on all elasmobranchs; they are made of pulp on the inside and covered with hard enamel on the outside, just like teeth. They are also called denticles.
• Plankton: Tiny plants and animals that live in the top layer of the open ocean and are transported by currents.
• Population genetics: Using genes (DNA) to see how different groups of the same shark species, and how different shark species are related.
• Productivity: The amount of biological matter produced by primary producers such as algae and seagrass that is available for use by animals.
• Pup: Baby shark.
• Pupping grounds: The areas where pregnant sharks give birth.
• Ratio: a relationship between two different numbers or quantities, where for every one of something there is another amount of something else. For example: for every one teacher, there are ten students.
• Recreational fishing / fishers:Fishing for personal use or for pleasure.
• Sac: biological material surrounding an organ inside animals.
• Satellite tracking: A shark is tagged with a complex electronic tag that can send data to a satellite. The information is then downloaded from the satellite by scientists.
• Serrated barbs:Tooth like spikes.
• Shark-tagging: A plastic tag is attached to a shark, or ray. The tag has a unique number on it to identify the individual shark and also a phone number. The shark or ray is released and if it is caught again, the fisher records the identification number and the location, and calls the phone number to report catching that shark.
• Spearfishing: Hunting for fish underwater. Spearfishers snorkel to find the fish and then use a large, specially designed spear to kill the fish.
• Species:Group of animals having common characteristics and able to breed together to produce fertile (capable of reproducing) offspring.
• Spiracles: Holes behind the eyes of rays and skates through which they breathe in (they breathe out through the gill slits under the body).
• Sub-tropical: Climate zone in between temperate and tropical.
• Substrate: The seafloor or other base on which other things grow or rest, e.g. shipwrecks, jetties.
• Supernatural: Relating to existence outside the natural world.
• Surf zone: The area on a beach where waves form and crash onto the shore.

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