The Great White Shark

The great white shark. The white death. The white pointer. Jaws. The undisputed king of the seas since the mighty carchadon megladon (an extinct shark that grew up to 18m long). The great white has 3,000 teeth arranged in rows, if it loses one, another takes it's place. The shark itself can grow to lengths of 6m and can weigh 2,268 kg. They can live for up to 30 (human) years and have been around since the Miocene period. They feed on dolphins, seals, turtles, large fish, dead whales and other sharks.
  This is what gave the great white shark it's terrible reputation and what caused it to strike fear into the hearts of any person from diver to doctor, from surfer to businessman. Yet this supposed man-killer is not what it is said to be. In fact, this 'cold blooded killer' has killed less humans than humans have killed great white sharks. We humans have less to fear from it than it has to fear from us.
  The reason we fear this fascinating creature is mainly down to one film. Jaws. It featured a single great white shark terrorizing a seaside town, biting boats in half and killing swimmers. True, sometimes a great white shark will attack a human but only if it has been provoked by that person. Or if it was pregnant and the person came too close for comfort. But mainly it is a mistake. Sharks, great whites particularly have bad eyesight and to them, a swimmer or surfer looks quite like a dolphin or a seal and it will launch an attack. Normally if it realizes it's mistake it will let go and swim away.

A surfer's silhouette from beneath.

A seal's silhouette from beneath.

  See the similarities? For a great white shark, it is exactly the same.
  Great white sharks are clever and curious, if they see bait on a line, they will cruise around it until they think it is safe to eat it they have electrical sensors that guide them to food, and other objects such as diving cages. They will open their mouths, bare their teeth, lift up the skin above their top jaw and lunge forward. All that takes about a second.
  In some amazing cases, great white sharks will allow themselves to be petted by humans. Valerie Taylor managed to get a great white shark to poke it's head out of the water, eat a dead fish calmly and let her pat it's nose before telling it to swim away (which it did). What a miracle. But in that moment, the world was shown that great white sharks weren't monsters, but, intelligent, fascinating and misunderstood creatures just waiting to be learnt about.

A great white shark drifting peacefully in the Pacific Ocean. 

The Wobbegong Shark

 The wobbegong shark is very hard to see because of it's amazing camouflage. It is found in coral reefs, where it lies on the sandy rocks in wait for it's pray. There are two more common types of wobbegong shark (others such as the brown-spotted and japanese wobbegongs aren't mentioned); the tasseled wobbegong and the ornate wobbegong. The tasseled wobbegong is named for the tassels that protrude from it's head. They look like seaweed, which encourages fish to swim near it and become the shark's dinner. It's back is dark orange and brown making it blend into the seafloor perfectly. Because it is a flat shark, it doesn't have to swim to stay alive and can lie in wait for days. The word 'wobbegong' comes from the Aborigine word meaning hairy beard. It is found in the Indian and Pacific oceans. It has been around since the Jurassic period (For those of you who have never looked inside a history book before, that means they lived with dinosaurs such as styracosauras and T-rex(Though if you don't read history books, you won't know what they are anyway!!)) talk about oldies!! The ornate wobbegong is paler than the tasseled wobbegong and is larger. They have been known to attack humans on sight. Normally, they would have to be provoked to attack but anyone who enters the water with a pregnant female ornate wobbegong and comes out alive can only be very lucky.
  Wobbegong sharks are often found living in harmony with lobsters. The two speicies work together for food and protection. The wobbegong lays itself down on the seafloor while the lobster walks on top of it. Big fish swim towards the motionless lobster in hope of an easy meal. The lobster moves of the wobbegong which then eats the fish, sharing some with the lobster. This is a miracle of nature, a perfectly adapted partnership between hunter and helper.


  A film of a wobbegong shark by Frank Lame of the coast of Australia (Other details
in film) showing it's teeth, swimming style and camouflage. Please note that the 
spelling of 'wobbegong' is incorrect at the start. 

The Whale Shark

Whale sharks are the biggest fish in the sea. They are gentle giants and will happily allow divers to swim with them. Yet if a diver overdoes it and tries to ride on a whale shark, then the whale shark will feel harassed and may die.  Whale sharks are found in the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific oceans at about 5m to 150m below the surface. If you have a weak stomach TURN AWAY NOW if you are still reading, here is a gruesome fact: if a boat drives too near a whale shark, it will often amputate it's dorsal fin and the tip of it's tail.  Horrible isn't it? Well unfortunately, this happens, but only very rarely. 

Amazingly whales sharks are the biggest fish in the world yet eat the smallest things. Whale sharks feed on plankton and shrimps. But, because of this, they do not keep well in captivity as plankton is expensive to buy and the shark itself would need a large aquarium. What is more, whale sharks are social creatures and will want a friend. Only a select few aquariums in Australia and America can afford to keep them. 

Each year, whale sharks arrive at Ningaloo reef in Australia for the coral spawning. During April each year, the coral at Ningaloo reef releases its' seeds at the same time, so that more of them get to grow. Plankton and shrimps arrive to eat the seeds and, in turn, the whale sharks arrive to eat them. It is one of the most amazing and mysterious undersea happenings.                                                          

A whale shark that has had it's fins cut off by a boat propellor.

A whale shark majestically drifting over a peaceful reef.

The Black Tip Reef Shark

The black tip reef shark is easily recognisable because of the black tip on it's pectoral (side) fins and dorsal fin. The black tip is very common and is often seen by divers and waders in India, Madagascar, South Africa, Australia and America. Although it is not usually aggressive, this shark is known to attack waders or divers that approach it too quickly. It is also known to bite peoples feet when they lie on rubber rings, inflatable chairs and other items such as these. Black tips are some of the most curious creatures on the planet, they are often to be found lying still in crevices as they don't need to swim to survive, all they have to do is pump sea-water over their gills.
Although they are more active at night, when they come out of their crevices to hunt anchovies, sardines and other large groups of schooling fish, they are often seen during the day gliding peacefully along through the gaps between tall rocks that the fish use as swimming roads or visiting cleaning stations to be relieved of their parasites. Black tips survive well in captivity and you can often see them in aquariums.
  Black tips are excellent hunters, they often form a group and chase fish onto beaches. They wriggle up the beaches and eat them. (Talk about fish out of water!!)

A playful black tip reef shark, curious of the diver and his camera.

An adult black tip, in honour of my Uncle Seamus who requested  black tips to be the next shark on the blog.

The Porbeagle Shark

The porbeagle shark can weigh up to 225kg (with the notable exception of the 7m terror you'll meet later) and can grow up to 3.7m (once again not counting the 7m terror). The porbeagle lives at depths of 370m below the surface except when feeding. It lives mainly in the cold waters of the Atlantic Ocean and the North Sea.
It feeds on mackerel and squid. If there are no mackerel or squid in it's territory (or the under-sea restaurant has run out due to a busy evening) it will eat cod, hake and flounders.
Like other mackerel sharks (great whites, makos, Salmon sharks...)it has to keep swimming to survive.
The porbeagle, like other mackerel sharks, is warm blooded which gives it increased muscle strength.

A porbeagle shark feeding

Poor Beagle (Porbeagle Shark)

Not long ago the seal population at Islay was being attacked viciously by a Porbeagle shark. It was decided that the shark needed to be captured.
The shark was 7m long almost two times the size of the average porbeagle (3.7m).
Fisherman Hamish Currie was sent to tag the shark but was forced to kill this monster from the same shark family as Jaws the great white, when it attacked and destroyed his steel toed boot and bit a hole in his boat!!

The 7m porbeagle shark having been reeled up onto the deck

The Snaggletooth Shark

The snaggletooth is a very rare shark.So rare that I only heard of it two days ago.Snaggletooth sharks are on the brink of extinction, they can reach up to 8ft (2.50m) in length and are found in the West Pacific and the Red Sea.
Snaggletooth sharks are fast swimmers and they use this speed to hunt rays, crabs, lobsters and other sharks (nurse, swell...).The shark itself is caught for it's fins and it's liver which contains vitamins.
This shark is a species of weasel shark which means that it tends to live in deep water.
I am struggling to find any other details on this shark.I shall update this post the moment I learn something new.Come back to this post soon, but in the meantime take a look at the video clip of the snaggletooth shark spotted at 100m down by some divers in the Red Sea.

-100m rare footage of snaggletooth shark

Goodbye Ron Taylor

Ron Taylor and his wife Valerie were two of the best marine biologists ever to have lived. Sadly that wonderful pair has become a lonely one:on the 9th of September 2012, Ron Taylor died having been ill with myeloid leukemia at the age of 78.
In his youth he was a world champion spear fisherman until he "looked down at the fish of different sizes, shapes and colours that had been caught and killed and thought:this is wrong" (as quoted by Ron Taylor in one of the last episodes of the TV series, Shadow of the Shark). He left the world of spear fishing at the same time as Valerie who was also a champion spear fisher, and the two of them married and became avid marine conservationists.
They made countless underwater documentaries and Ron was an innovator in underwater photography.
Together they led the Great Barrier Reef protection party, until in the 1980s it succeeded and a National Marine Park was made.
Ron and Valerie were the first to dive with sharks at night, the first to free dive with no cage amongst great white sharks and also discovered many types of sea creatures.
With their expert knowledge of sharks Ron and Valerie helped to create the terrifying scenes in the Spielberg film "Jaws". However they both regretted the backlash of hatred for sharks which was sparked by the film.
Those of you reading, please bow your heads for a moment and remember Ron Taylor.

Tiger Shark

The tiger shark is a known man-killer and is one of the biggest sharks in the sea. This fierce predator will eat anything it can get its teeth into : squid, dolphins, turtles, whales, tuna, mackerel, cod, lobsters, seals, porpoises, ... well you get the picture, they eat a lot!! Tiger sharks have even been known to eat rubbish floating on the surface and even bite holes in the back of small boats. If you have a weak stomach or feel sick at the thought of violence TURN AWAY NOW and do not read the words in red, if your still reading, this is one of the most horrible things you will ever hear: tiger sharks eat their own brothers and sisters...whilst still inside their mother!! This is a common thing for all sharks to do but it's pretty gruesome all the same. Tiger sharks are very clever for a non-human species, they gather at albatross nesting places every July and wait for the young seabirds to attempt to fly. The unsuccessful ones who fall in the water never get another chance to try it because they are immediately gobbled up by hungry tiger sharks who had been waiting eagerly in the shallows.
 Tiger sharks have stripes like those of a tiger when they are young (except they are grey-not white!!) but as they become older the stripes fade and people mistake them for another ferocious hunter; the great white.

A young tiger shark hunting for food.

An adult tiger shark. Note the loss of stripes.

The Shortfin Mako Shark

The shortfin mako shark is the fastest shark in the sea, it can swim at speeds up to 65kph. Makos swim at this speed so they can catch and eat sailfish and marlins (now that really is fast food!!). Shortfin makos tend to eat squid and tuna, their hook-like teeth enable them to stop writhing fish or squid escaping their jaws. These powerful sharks live at depths of 200 to 350 metres below the surface. Makos are extremely strong and can hurl themselves out of the water up to 1 metre (3 feet). They have been known to throw themselves into fishing boats!!
  Although these sharks are not dangerous to human, they will attack divers if they feel anxious or the divers are pestering it. A mako sharks bite is extremely powerful  and can be fatal. As with all sharks if you are not killed by the bite, the bacteria on the shark's teeth can poison your blood and will almost definitely kill you. Maybe someone should introduce sharks to toothpaste!!
  Mako sharks are constantly being killed by fishing nets and huntsmen looking for shark fins and jaws to display and make into shark fin soup.

The shortfin mako swims quicker than other sharks because of the equality in size of their tail lobes.

The mako is one of my favourite sharks.

The blue shark

The blue shark is my personal favourite of all sharks. It's extremely quick, very well camouflaged and super intelligent. The blue shark is the second quickest shark known to man, losing out only to the mighty shortfin mako shark. The blue shark migrates further than any other shark each year, circulating the Atlantic to feed and to mate. It can swim at speeds of 60kph (40 mph).
Blue sharks spend most of their time about 200 metres down from the surface where they can normally find an abundant supply of mackerel, cod and tuna. Blue sharks feed on fish such as mackerel, cod and tuna but also eat squid and lobsters. Squid is a blue shark's favourite food.
Blue sharks used to be a well populated species but due to trawling, habitat loss, accidental capture and hunting, these sharks, are no longer the hunters but the hunted. 
5 000 000 blue sharks are caught each year, the majority of which die. Therefore, the number of blue sharks is now declining rapidly.
When a blue shark finds a large group of small fish (anchovies, sardines etc...) they speed through with their mouths open to eat as many fish at once. Like most big sharks, the blue shark often forces itself to be sick so it can continue eating. The sharks do this so they don't waste what could be their only meal for a long time, but maybe also because they enjoy stuffing themselves full!! 
Blue sharks are not natural predators to humans, but in a situation where a diver or a group of divers are annoying or worrying it, the shark would be likely to launch an attack. As with all sharks, a diving expedition which involves blue sharks is not to be taken lightly. Be careful when around this shark and remember to respect it and its' territory.

As you can see, a blue shark is camouflaged particularly well by its' natural habitat, looking up from beneath it, the shark's light coloured under-carrige makes it difficult to spot against the sun-lit surface while its' dark head, back and tail are roughly the same colour as the ocean depths beneath it.