The fishing poles danced along the horizon line of the open ocean, each tip fitted with a glow stick that began to glimmer as the sun slowly set. Dr. Keith Dunton and his team from Monmouth University prepared for a long night ahead. Although it was still June, a cold breeze blew in from across the water, indicating that the temperature would drop significantly once the sun went down. As the team was unpacking and getting their gear ready, one of the glow sticks began to move slightly quicker than the others. Something was on the line.

I started to unpack my camera gear frantically. Before I could make it to the surf, one of Keith’s students, a young marine biology student, made her way up the beach with what appeared to be a shark about a foot in length. A feeling of relief came over me as I was there to photograph sharks. With one shark already present, I began to feel good about the prospect of seeing more sharks in the night ahead. As I made my way to the shark to take a photograph, the student laid it down on a cooler and, in one quick motion, took off its head. The look on my face echoed around the group; one of the other students exclaimed: “That’s the bait, the sharks we will be catching are bigger… much bigger”.