Oklahoma Aquarium to help set first ever shark

Every week is Shark Week for researchers at the Oklahoma Aquarium. Since its opening in 2003, the Jenks aquarium has hosted the largest collection of bull sharks in the world and the only collection in the Western Hemisphere.

It takes a 380,000-gallon saltwater tank to house 10 of these predatory animals. They can be viewed through an underwater tunnel that follows a path through the bottom of the tank. It feels like walking in the depths of the ocean with the dramatic ambient lighting giving the sharks a mysterious feel when they emerge from darkness into plain sight.

These apex predators are responsible for more shark attacks than any other species of shark, according to the aquarium's website.

The movie "Jaws" was inspired by a series of shark attacks that occurred in a freshwater creek of New Jersey. Although the species of shark featured in the film is a great white, many researchers believe the culprit was actually a bull shark due to its ability to swim in fresh water.

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The fear of a shark attack lingers in the minds of many, particularly those who spend time in the ocean every day like commercial divers or underwater videographers. The current solution in the industry, stainless steel chain mail, dates back to medieval times for purposes of war, but its practical use in the water falls short. The suit is bulky, hard to maneuver in and expensive.

Born out of the shared concern of two fathers who surf and spearfish with their children, Ironskinn was launched in 2017 as a shark-protected wetsuit design company based in Sydney, Australia. The bull sharks' unique presence in Oklahoma led them to partner with the Oklahoma Aquarium and Oklahoma State University's Helmerich Research Center to further test bite resistance on their gear, which has proven to be remarkably effective.

John Sundes, executive director of Ironskinn, said his partner was spearfishing with his son one day when people warned them of "some really large bull sharks seen in the last few days."

"If something happens to my son, there's nothing I can do," Sundes said. "I'm gonna have to sit and watch that. As a parent, that's more horrifying than dying yourself is to imagine something happening to your kid. ... How do you deal with that?"

"You can't really get rid of that total pressure, but you can try to defeat the teeth," Sundes said of Ironskinn's wetsuit. "You're really solving this whole 'Jaws' thing of like, you know, if you're swimming in the water and a shark bites you, you're probably gonna get bruised, or if it's a bad enough attack, you might even have a bone broken. But you're not gonna have that deep cutting. You're not going to have a limb amputated."

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While the Oklahoma Aquarium also has caught international attention from researchers and filmmakers, and is featured on NBC, Discovery Channel and "Monster Quest," Sundes said he contacted the Oklahoma Aquarium and OSU on a whim and asked if they could help with testing.

"Testing in the ocean was really hard to do," said Sundes. "We thought maybe somebody has these sharks captive. ... So we reached out and said, 'Look, we're making these suits. Guys are wearing 'em in Australia. We're not guessing if this stuff works, we know it works, but we want further testing.'"

Jim Smay, OSU professor and head of Materials Science and Engineering at the Helmerich Research Center, never imagined working with sharks. He actually almost deleted the first email labeled "Shark Research" because he knew nothing about them. But he was all in when he learned about the material developments for a shark-proof wetsuit.

Smay said the testing rig is a half-inch thick plastic board covered in salmon that's then wrapped in a sleeve of protective material to simulate human flesh inside the Ironskinn material. Then, another piece of salmon is tied around the outside and it's dangled in the shark tank for the sharks to bite.

"It's really pretty impressive when you see 'em," he said. "They'll come up, they'll grab it, and because it's attached to a cable, they can't just immediately tear it off until they start thrashing and trying to rip the salmon off."

After the bite, the team removes the Ironskinn material and looks for damage to the salmon on the inner surface.

"We've seen some pretty good bites, but they don't make it all the way through and the underlying piece of fish is protected," Smay said.

Currently, there is no standard companies must follow when producing shark resistant material. At a disadvantage, customers cannot verify the wet suit material actually works against shark attacks.

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Hoping to help answer this need is one of Smay's graduate students, Ashley Pennyman. She dedicated her thesis to constructing a rig with shark teeth attached to it that will clamp down and, on a second, saw-like axis, will shake the material, mimicking the biting and thrashing force of a bull shark. This research will help develop the first ever bite resistant material standard.

"I've looked through so many academic journals, and they've all been theoretical based on other mammals, but there's not been any exact dynamic mechanical testing on the bull shark's bite force," Pennyman said.

Sundes said the researchers have been "unbelievably helpful," and he doesn't think the help he's received would be possible anywhere but in Oklahoma.

"They've been world class human beings," Sundes said. "Most people are just busy in their day, don't have time for you. Whereas their attitude has been like, 'Wow, this is an interesting project and could have real benefits for humanity at large. Let's do this.'"

The bull sharks can be viewed seven days a week at the Oklahoma Aquarium. For more information, go to https://www.okaquarium.org/.