Irene Casanova

Master Student

Irene has always had a very close connection with the sea as she was born in Alicante, a city on the Mediterranean coast of Spain. She started in the world of diving from an early age with her father and brothers, since then, every year they try to travel together to some place in the world to dive. She was trained as an animal keeper at the Zoo and Aquarium in Madrid, where she learned about many exotic animals, including sharks. At the age of 20, she began her adventure working as a Divemaster on the Mexican Caribbean coast, where she completely fell in love with sharks and rays. Later, she decided to move to La Paz to study marine biology and specialize in the study of elasmobranchs. She has been involved in different scientific projects in order to learn more about this group of animals in different areas of the Mexican Pacific and Caribbean. She is currently about to begin her master's project research with Pelagios Kakunjá at CICIMAR-IPN on the reproductive biology of sharks, using innovative and non-lethal methods such as the analysis of reproductive hormones and the use of ultrasound scanners.