Shark Week comes to Texas — live

Shark Week is coming to Texas, too.

The Discovery Channel’s popular and toothy fish-binge of shows has sparked a great interest in sharks, and Texas Parks and Wildlife Department is joining the feeding frenzy today.

TPWD is hosting a live chat with Coastal Fisheries Division shark biologist Jonathan Davis on TPWD’s Coastal Fisheries Division Facebook page at 10 a.m. today to celebrate Shark Week.

The live chat also will be available to viewers on the website of The Valley Morning Star http://www.valleymorningstar.com and Facebook https://www.facebook.com/Valleymorningstar/

“We will broadcast live from the Port Arthur Coastal Fisheries Marine Lab where Jonathan will talk about different shark species in Texas and in the Gulf of Mexico as well as answer questions from the public,” Julie Hagen, social media specialist for the Coastal Fisheries Division, said via email.

Davis, the shark expert, received his bachelor’s degree in marine biology from the University of Texas and his master’s from the University of Auckland in New Zealand.

He worked as a scientific observer for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on the East Coast, and then as a marine biology instructor in Key Largo, Florida, while working on his doctorate at the University of New Orleans.

If you’re an avid watcher of Shark Week, you may recall his study of bull sharks was featured.

Hagen said the live chat hopes to have some shark species alive and available at the lab for visuals to accompany the chat.

She said the show will try to answer questions and provide helpful links to live chat viewers “in order to give people some good sources for more information.”