Simplified Food Web – Source: Photo by Herbert Frey from Fish Bulletin 169
The sea ecosystem is made up of very complex food webs with sharks being on the extreme top. They are being identified by scientists as the core species where the removal of them will have detrimental effects on the food webs. This will also imply that, following the extinction of these predators, it can simply lead to the extinction of many other marine animals. Multiple researches have shown that with the decreasing population of sharks, commercially important marine animals such as tuna, which is down the food chain, will be impacted. This decrease in number of tuna in turn impacts the health of coral reefs in the sea.
Coral Reef – Source: Photo by only_point_five from Flickr