More Than Jaws

My name is Gabrielle Peterson. I do not live the typical life of a teenage girl. Both my parents, Jonathan Peterson and Marian Peterson, are marine biologists.

They mostly study sharks and even more specifically Great White sharks. Most people are terrified of them, sharks in general really. I on the other hand love sharks.

I don't think sharks mean to hurt us, they just don't know that we're not seals. And we are in their territory when we go out in the ocean far. Can you blame them for being curious?

I've never gotten bored of studying the diagrams of their bodies or how they live and adapt to certain,. areas of the ocean. I just kept wanting to learn even more. Sharks has been around for sixteen million years.

Sharks are starting to become vulnerable so my family and I are doing everything we can to figure out how to save them. You are going to learn a lot about these animals.

There are over 70 kinds of species of sharks. Tiger shark, Nurse shark, Hammer head shark. Everyone knows about the Great White though.

Since I study so much I don't have that many friends. Just those that I meet when my family, and our best friends who work with us, the Wei family, and their teenage son Chang.

But I really don't mind being alone, I feel content just learning and reading. It's really not that bad of a life, it's exhilarating actually.

The six of us move around a lot because of what we do. Yes I am obviously following in Mom and Dad's footsteps, no matter what happens. Do I get scared sometimes? Of course. But that's the thing when it comes to doing what you love. Take the bad with the good.

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"What's the next place were moving to?" I asked my mom as she had her head buried into her computer, with books open covering our kitchen table. We didn't even have dinner yet.

"We're probably gonna study in the Keys. I heard they have lots of sharks there and most importantly a couple of Great Whites even." I already started bouncing on my chair.

"When are we going?!" I asked. I should know better because when my mom is concentrating like this I need to be quiet. but we've finished studying in Galapagos Islands off of South America.

"Exactly two weeks from today," Chang said as he sat down next to me. We Peterson's and the Wei's work together. The Weis's moved to America from China almost ten years ago. We met at a shark convention. It was pretty much about what we could to do to help sharks survive. We became very close and Chang is my closest friend and I never have to say good bye to him because his family goes where we go.

"Why didn't anyone tell me?!" I pouted like a two year old.

"Because we knew you'd get overly excited like you are now." Chang said smirking at me. I stuck my tongue out at him and we began bickering.

"Ugh! Stop fighting like a old married couple and get outside on the boat to study sharks! You're missing out. Go go go!!"

"Yes mom." I sighed and ran outside on to the deck of the boat. There were hundreds of sharks swimming below us, probably trying to find the bait that my dad threw in. After a few minutes of watching them my dad came out to join us.

"Did it work?" he asked hopefully.

"What do you think?" I asked, nodding my head towards the water.

"Holy cow! I got to tag one!! Don't go anywhere." My dad said sternly. He came back outside a minute later with a gun that had a device ready to be attached to a shark. There are many different types of tags but we like to use acoustic tags which is inserted into the shark which allow us to keep track of scale movement. Chang and I backed away ready for Dad to make the shot.

"I got a nurse shark. Looks like she's a girl." Like I said my life revolves around sharks. As my dad went back inside I decided to stay a little longer to watch the sharks fighting over the bait we threw in.