Interesting Discussions From Shark-l Newsgroup
Interesting Discussions from Shark-l Mailing list
Here follows some interesting mails from the shark-l newsgroup, these are just chpped directly, sorry if page width is wrong, might be easiest to just print it out. You can save this in Netscape by clicking, file, then save as.
Diving with Oceanic Whitetips
Tiger Sharks
Silvertips
Jaws in the Med
White Shark predation of Dolphins
Ascii Shark Pics
Hot sex @ 70 feet
American Elasmobranch Society Web Page opens
Joining Shark-L Newgroup
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****************************************************
Date: Thu, 31 Aug 1995 20:28:09 +0800
From: Barry Lee Brisco
Subject: Re: diving with oceanic whitetips
On Wed, 30 Aug 1995, Lee Jones wrote:
> I don't suppose you've had an encounter with
> an oceanic whitetip (C. longimanus) with that thing on, have you? Just
> because I'd, um, give my right arm for such an opportunity...
Well brother Lee, I'll take your right arm and tell you where you just
might see one... :-)
My very first trip to Cocos Island C.R. - I was hanging out at a site
called Little Dirty Rock, a submerged rock top at 60 ft., which is my
favourite site at Cocos. It is next to, wait for it, Big Dirty Rock,
which breaks the surface about a kilometre offshore of Wafer Bay. There is
often very strong current there which makes for some exciting big fish
action. Anyway, on this dive we had already seen hammerheads and a trio
of 6' mobula rays wing by, when suddenly, I glanced to my left and out of
the limited 50' viz. cruised a BIG C. longimanus with attendant pilot
fish. It was witnessed by 4 others, and we concurred that was the correct
species, the oceanic whitetip in unexpectedly shallow water. I had only
seen them in books, of course, but I instantly recognised the large,
graceful pectorals. It swam leisurely by, seeming not to notice us puny
divers. It could only be described as majestic and sure of itself. I
think I stopped breathing for the maybe 15 seconds I could see it in the
low viz. water. This is experience is crystal clear in my temporal lobes.
Meeting this animal in the blue water would be an entirely different
experience, at least I had some big rocks to crouch behind, forgetting
that at Cocos they are covered with huge black urchins :-)
Barry Brisco
If you want to go for a REALLY spectacular dive... there are tales of
people being visited by oceanic whitetips while hanging on the line on the
ascent from the San Francisco Maru in Truk. One hell of a wreck, and seeing
some big beasties would just be the icing on the cake. Didn't see any :-<
either time I was there :->>>
Keith
hadlandk@logica.com
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tiger Sharks
>Barry,
>Perhaps the best way for me to explain the reputation of tiger sharks is
>with the use of them in TV and movies. Did you ever wonder why the James
>Bond films and so may other movies used tiger sharks?
>They look fierce. They get very big. They can get excited with chum and low
>frequency struggling. But under normal conditions they are a very passive
>shark to scuba divers. They do a great deal of their feeding off of the
>surface, so swimmers could be at some extreme risk, but scuba divers
>interacting with them underwater find them PASSIVE!
>
>A friend of mine (Capt Scott Smith) runs a live aboard called the Dream Too
>over to the Bahamas Banks constantly to bring people encounters with wild
>spotted dolphins. Scotty is without doubt the worlds foremost authority
>on wild dolphin behavior, as he has been accepted by three generations of
>the dolphins in the pod he visits, and swims with them in formation like a
>dolphin, and is treated like a dolphin with all the social protocols they
>use for each other. Not like they treat other people.
>
>Scotty also has spent so much time on the Banks over the last 15 years that
>he has had a tremendous number of encounters with tiger sharks, cruising the
>Banks for food. He sees the dolphin completely "disrespect" the tigers for
>fun, on and on until they grow tired of the play, only then letting the
>shark "off the hook".
>He and his crew, and many of his divers have been in the water very close to
>these tiger sharks (with no dolphin around), and have done extensive photo
>and video of them. And they claim they are the "nicest" and calmest of
>sharks to swim with. Completely unthreatening.
>I'll attach files of 2 jpeg images of one of the crew members, Anna
>Abernethy, who I have in photos with a BIG tiger (so you can identify for
>yourself), and if you like you can e-mail her at with
>some more questions (but have some mercy on her, everyone on the list can't
>e-mail her, she would'nt be able to respond to everyone).
>Regards,
>Dan
>
>
>>On Wed, 30 Aug 1995, Dan Volker wrote:
>>> We also have lemons and hammerheads, with occasional tiger (tigers by the
>>> way are very passive and non-threatening to divers, and among the easiest to
>>> photograph closeup and "safely").
>>
>>Dan, Dan, Dan... :-) this is not a flame, but did you read what you
>>posted? To the vast majority of folks, a "tiger shark" is Galeocerdo
>>cuvier, a fearsome predator and second only to the white shark as a
>>muncher of Homo sapiens. In fact I think that for 99% of us "tiger
>>shark" is the _only_ common name for this species. It
>>can hardly be termed "very passive and non-threatening to divers"!!!
>>My guess is when you say "tiger" you are referring to what in the USA is
>>known as the sand tiger shark, which I believe is Hemipristis elongatus,
>>also known as the snaggletooth shark. I am open to correction on this :-)
>To: John Kell John, These tigers I'm talking about are not sand tigers.
)
>They are real tiger sharks
I believe you! I talked with Valerie Taylor at a show once, and she said they
were quite gentle when encountered diving.
As one of the individuals who mentioned that Tiger Sharks might not be as
hazardous to humans as is often believed; allow me to reiterate that I do
NOT believe Tiger Sharks are in anyway harmless. They should be respected
and treated with extreme caution. I was mearly pointing out that my
experiences, and the experiences of others I know, suggest that Tiger
sharks are not overly aggressive toward scuba divers. I have witnessed far
more aggression from Carcharhinus albimarginatus and from aggregations of C.
galapagensis.
Hi, fellow Shark Lovers,
I've been following this thread (about bulls and tigers) intermitently
and loosely for days now. This seems a good topic to add my $0.02 to
elevate the apparent down-graded status of the tiger in Shark-L, first
by some remarks by Rich Pyle (aloha, Rich :) , misinterpreted by some
Shark-L readers, then followed by the interesting "I love this!" thread
started by Dan Kell's remark,
DK> and the (now) puppylike and docile Tiger Shark?
A Pit Bull (as in dawg) puppy? :-)
I'll line behind "Selna L. Kaplan" who said,
SK> I wouldn't spread that tiger-puppy line too casually!
Here are some circumstantial evidence from the "Bull Shark Dive" Capital
of the world -- I know, it's the wimpy/spineless/staged ones in the
Bahamas. There are FOUR different kinds of shark dives in Providence
Island (Nassau): the Silkies (C. falciformes), the Caribbean Reef
(C. perezi), the Bull (C. leucas), and the Tiger (Galeocerdo cuvier):
1. The tiger is dived in a CAGE ONLY. Stuart Cove runs such charters
in the summer months. Bull shark dives are run by several operators
in Nassau, several times a week, in open water, with DM (in chain
mail suit) feeding them grouper heads and assorted fish chum, while
FEROCIOUS divers kneel in semi-circle snapping photos. ;-) Most of
the time, the bulls don't even show up, but the DM and shop photog
tell gullible customers the Caribbean Reefs on video are bulls. BULL!
2. In such Bull shark dives, the briefing includes the fact that IF a
Tiger shows up (they do rarely), the dive terminates immediately!
So, there you have it. I hope that takes away some of the Rodney
Dangerfield reputation ("I don't get no respect") of the tiger sharks.
Rich brought it all back to proper perspective in his rejoinder,
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Silvertips
From: "Maria D. Maggio"
Subject: Silvertips
As I think I mentioned in my introduction, of all sharks, I am
most fascinated by silvertips. I'm not sure why, perhaps it's
the fact that they are largish, deep water sharks, but
are found frequently enough especially in a place like Papua
New Guinea.
After being in the water hundreds of times with thousands of
silvertips, I had a unique experience during my last trip
to PNG. Comments/speculations, etc. would be very much appreciated.
I was diving southeast of Milne Bay in the Louisiade Archipelago.
This was highly exploratory diving (i.e. no regular dive boat
goes to these islands). We had amazing shark dives for the 3
weeks we were there. On one dive, we were diving one of the outer
reefs - a very sheer wall. My friend Elizabeth was first down
the wall at about 70 feet. I was about 20 feet above her.
I looked down and approaching Elizabeth coming up from deeper
water was a very large silvertip. I saw it at the same time she
did. She turned to give me the shark signal. As she turned,
another 3 equally large silvertips also appeared frmo the deep.
I signalled back to her, "no, you look behind you at the
sharks, there are now 4." Now my experience with silvertips
are that they come up frmo deep water, check you, perhaps stay
with you for a bit, but then head back into deep water (the
exception being in Kavieng at a place where they have regularly
fed the silvertips, but that's another story). Well, these 4,
then 5 large silvertips stayed with us. Another bunch of smaller
silvertips as well as a slew of grey reef sharks also joined the
large silvertips. We proceeded at around 100 feet along the wall.
The silvertips kept circling out in front of us. We headed back up
a little shallower. The sharks followed. We went up to 40 feet.
The sharks followed, circling even closer. Ever few minutes one
of the larger sharks would head in straight for one of us.
If you faced it and stood your ground, the shark would veer off.
However, the distance at which they would veer off was getting
shorter and shorter. Eventually, we hit a spot on the wall where
instead of being a sheer drop, it was much more sloping. The sharks
disappeared. I thought, "wow, that was incredible, but now I can
relax and put looking at the stuff on the wall." However, the instant
the wall again turned sheer, the sharks reappeared, this time
charging even closer. Even when we were back up at 20 feet, the
sharks stayed with us. I felt bumping was imminent. I've never
felt threatened by sharks before, but I decided it was time to get
out of the water (it was about 45 minutes into the dive -- the sharks
had been with us for at least 40 of it). We hung out along
a crevice where we had wall to 3 sides doing a safety stop. We got
out of the water, being careful to not hang out on the surface for
long. So, what do you folks think? I think there's a definite
possibility considering where we were that these sharks had never
seen divers before. I've never seen silvertips behave like this
before.
-Maria
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: 'Jaws in the Med'
Date: Mon, 18 Sep 1995 13:46:00 BST
From: Hadland Keith
That was the title of a documentary shown last night on Channel 4 (UK). It
was supposedly about the GW population in the Med, trying to say that rather
than being 'occasional visitors' there is in fact a resident breeding
population. I was hoping for some reasoned argument, some presentation of
the GW as an ultimate predator who's territory we're stumbling into, but as
it turned out it was a catalogue of stories of shark attacks and shark
catches interspersed with some misleading 'facts'. (Even with my limited
knowledge of these creatures, I was getting a bit upset about the manner in
which these 'facts' were presented).
For instance (and in summary) 'Experts say that GWs principal diet is seals
& sealions and if these are not present, there will be no sharks, so there
isn't a population in the med' but... 'our research (?) shows that GWs may
take tuna, dolphin etc, so there is no need for a seal population'. So how
come one of South Africa's white shark hotspots is Struisbaai, where there
isn't a seal population and where the suspected food source is yellowtail?
And 'the med is largely ignored by the world's white shark researchers'.
Even I knew that there are white shark attacks in the med, and that a
higher than average proporion of these are fatal, and a high proportion of
fatal attacks are full consumption. And I'm not even a white shark
researcher - just an interested diver. As for why the shaks in the Med
aren't studied - well, perhaps that has something to do with the volume of
tourism in the med.
There was more - I was tired when I watched it, but I have it on video &
could give more info if people are interested. I hope this message doesn't
sound too angry, but compared to the last BBC documentary this was a piece
of shock horror tabloid journalism. If I'd been watching it from an
uninformed point of view, I wouldn't dip my toes in the med again. Nice
picture of the alleged 23 footer caught off Malta though.
Keith
hadlandk@logica.com
From: Barry Lee Brisco
Subject: Re: 'Jaws in the Med'
On Mon, 18 Sep 1995, Hadland Keith wrote:
> That was the title of a documentary shown last night on Channel 4 (UK). It
> was supposedly about the GW population in the Med, trying to say that rather
> than being 'occasional visitors' there is in fact a resident breeding
> population. I was hoping for some reasoned argument, some presentation of
Well, I did not see this show, but it would have been a revelation to me
that there were any GWs in "the Med" which I assume is an abbreviation
for the Mediterranean Sea?
> For instance (and in summary) 'Experts say that GWs principal diet is seals
> & sealions and if these are not present, there will be no sharks, so there
> isn't a population in the med' but... 'our research (?) shows that GWs may
> take tuna, dolphin etc, so there is no need for a seal population'. So how
> come one of South Africa's white shark hotspots is Struisbaai, where there
> isn't a seal population and where the suspected food source is yellowtail?
Sorry, don't follow you. If the show's "research" indicates that GWs can
feed on tuna (highly doubtful they prey on dolphin unless they are sick
or dying?) and you say that off Struisbaai they are suspected of feeding
on yellowtail (which is a tuna species, no?) then where is the contradiction?
Sounds like the South Africa studies may support the show's contention
that GWs can take tuna. Anyone else know anything about this theory?
> And 'the med is largely ignored by the world's white shark researchers'.
> Even I knew that there are white shark attacks in the med, and that a
> higher than average proporion of these are fatal, and a high proportion of
> fatal attacks are full consumption. And I'm not even a white shark
> researcher - just an interested diver. As for why the sharks in the Med
> aren't studied - well, perhaps that has something to do with the volume of
> tourism in the med.
Now that's an interesting point, however certainly the tourist volume in
south Australia is not inconsequential. But again I was not aware of your
statements above about GW attacks in the Mediterranean, apparently these
events are not highly publicized.
Barry Brisco
Actually, from what I hear I'm surprised that there are enough fishes in
the Mediterranean to support even one white shark, or much of anything else.
Shane
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: White shark predation upon dolphins.
Date: Mon, 18 Sep 1995 12:48:46 EDT
From: PELAGIC SHARK RESEARCH FOUNDATION
-- [ From: Thomas Neal * EMC.Ver #2.10P ] --
While Ive never heard of white sharks feeding on healthy adult
(Tursiops) bottlenosed dolphins, I do know that white sharks feed on
healthy adult (Phocoena) harbor porpoise. Ive always been amused by the
flipper v.s. jaws lore in which the 'good' dolpins always prevails over
the 'evil' sharks. Ken Norris writes of many shark v.s.dolphin
observations in which the sharks prevail.
Ive seen (I. oxyerinchus) short-fin mako attack common long-beaked
dolphins on two occasions, killing the dolphins both times, these
attacks were not contested by the other dolphins (there were hundreds).
Ive also seen a mako 'dogfighting' w/
several Dalls porpoise. The results of this confrontation were unclear,
but it appeared that Dalls were holding their own. I wouldnt at all be
suprised if on occasion white sharks took out a dolphin, but this
remains to be seen. Anyone else got any thoughts on Dolphin v.s.
Shark? Sharks rule over all.
( I guess Orcas would count as dolphins)?
Cheers,
Sean R. Van Sommeran
Executive Director/PSRF.
(408/459-9346) Rhnx27E@Prodigy.Com)
Maritime Center. 333 lake Ave.Ste H/4.
Date: Mon, 18 Sep 1995 10:46:38 -0700
From: Rob McMurtry
Subject: Re: White shark predation upon dolphins.
There's a Discovery channel program featuring the exploits of macho
Australian shark-hater/killer Vic Hislop. At one point in the carnage, he
"examines" a Carcharodon carcharias' {great white} stomach contents and
finds a porpoise. It's pretty decomposed and quite small.
Mr. Hislop surmises "would you rather see this nice porpoise or that nasty
shark swimming around? I know I'd rather see the porpose...".
While the program is sensational and sickening, there is amazing footage of
very large sharks, albeit either dead or soon to be. Apparently this guy
still plys his trade, making Australia's waters safe...
Rob McMurtry
Sanctuary Woods Multimedia Corp.
RobMcMurtry@vic.sanctuary.com
or
Compu$erve: 73414,2417
Date: Mon, 18 Sep 1995 13:25:08 -0400
From: Dan Volker
Subject: Re: White shark predation upon dolphins.
I think you should have a conversation with Capt Scott Smith of the
live-aboard Dream Too---the best wild dolphin encounter operation there is.
Scotty has been accepted by over three generations of dolphins in a large
pod off the Bahama Banks . There is little doubt he has spent more time
swimming with wild dolphins than any other diver or researcher, and
according to well known Oceanography professor Dr. Ray McKallister, Scotty
is most likely possessed of far more knowlede of wild dolphin behavior than
any of the major "authorities" in the research world.
Scotty has told me of countless interactions between these spotted dolphin
and sharks, frequently Tiger sharks, where the dolphin completely
"disrespected" the shark, frequently making it the butt of there games and
amusement, with NOTHING the hapless shark could do to get away. This
includes sharks in the 10 to 13 foot range.
You can access a story I'm working on (not published yet, in a working
directory) about these dolphin with Netscape at
http://www.gate.net/~dlv/sun_sprt/sunsport.htm
Scotty is just now getting an e-mail address, maybe he'll have it in a day
or two. For now you can respond to me and I'll forward to him by fax untill
he's on the net.
Regards,
Dan
>-- [ From: Thomas Neal * EMC.Ver #2.10P ] --
>
>
>While Ive never heard of white sharks feeding on healthy adult
>(Tursiops) bottlenosed dolphins, I do know that white sharks feed on
>healthy adult (Phocoena) harbor porpoise. Ive always been amused by the
>flipper v.s. jaws lore in which the 'good' dolpins always prevails over
>the 'evil' sharks. Ken Norris writes of many shark v.s.dolphin
>observations in which the sharks prevail.
>Ive seen (I. oxyerinchus) short-fin mako attack common long-beaked
>dolphins on two occasions, killing the dolphins both times, these
>attacks were not contested by the other dolphins (there were hundreds).
>Ive also seen a mako 'dogfighting' w/
>several Dalls porpoise. The results of this confrontation were unclear,
>but it appeared that Dalls were holding their own. I wouldnt at all be
>suprised if on occasion white sharks took out a dolphin, but this
>remains to be seen. Anyone else got any thoughts on Dolphin v.s.
>Shark? Sharks rule over all.
> ( I guess Orcas would count as dolphins)?
Cheers,
> Sean R. Van Sommeran
> Executive Director/PSRF.
> (408/459-9346) Rhnx27E@Prodigy.Com)
> Maritime Center. 333 lake Ave.Ste H/4.
> Santa Cruz Yacht Harbor.
> Santa Cruz Ca 95062.
Date: Mon, 18 Sep 1995 13:13:48 MDT
From: garrett
Subject: Re: White shark predation upon dolphins.
>There's a Discovery channel program featuring the exploits of macho
>Australian shark-hater/killer Vic Hislop.
He has a museum on the gold cost of Australia dedicated to GW's.
there were lots of photos, videos, and an 18` GW in a large vat of
formaldahyde. There was also an impressive 'LIST OF SHAME' (my term)
of all the GW's he had caught, mostly in morinton bay.
rich
^`.
^_ \ \
\ \ { \ Rich Garrett
{ \ / `~~~--__
{ \___----~~' `~~-_
\ /// ` `~. ___ Oo
/ /~~~~-, ,__. , /// __,,,,) (___)o_o
\/ \/ `~~~; ,---~~-_`~= //====--//(_)
/ / \\ ^
'._.'
feeling lucky, scubaboy?
I seem to recall hearing something once about orcas attacking GW's (or
possibly some other kind of shark). I have no idea where or when I heard it.
Does anyone else know anything about that?
David Brown
dabrown@ouray.cudenver.edu
Date: Mon, 18 Sep 1995 12:56:11 -0700
From: Jim Browning
Subject: Re: White shark predation upon dolphins.
I read an account of Orcas feeding on and 'playing' with Galapagos sharks,
tossing them around in the same manner as shown in the films of Orcas
feeding on young sea lions. I'll search for the source. I think it was
described by Chris Newbert in a travel log...
----------
I seem to recall hearing something once about orcas attacking GW's (or
possibly some other kind of shark). I have no idea where or when I heard
it.
Does anyone else know anything about that?
David Brown
dabrown@ouray.cudenver.edu
Date: Mon, 18 Sep 1995 12:49:00 +0200
From: Jean-Pierre Botha
Subject: Re: White shark predation upon dolphins.
David Brown wrote
> I seem to recall hearing something once about orcas attacking GW's (or
> possibly some other kind of shark). I have no idea where or when I heard it.
> Does anyone else know anything about that?
I never heard about orcas and whites having at each other. Once there
was an orca at Mosselbay that pitched up as soon as anybody started
spearing fish. Very placidly it would swim right up to the spearo as
soon as he shot a fish,and would not go away unless the fish was
given to it.It would then go away a short distance and wait for the
noise of the speargun shooting. It new exactly what it sounded like
if a fish got speared and the moment this happened his lordship the
orca would calmly wait for his next fish to be served to him .
Conclusion : orcas have better manners and are more polite than GW's
: ) : ) : )
JP
Date: Mon, 18 Sep 1995 20:48:33 EDT
From: PELAGIC SHARK RESEARCH FOUNDATION
Subject:
-- [ From: Thomas Neal * EMC.Ver #2.10P ] --
Ive heard about both Tigers(G.cuvier) and big Hammerheads(S. Mokarran)
being badly beaten by groups of ornry dolphins. Ive heard of Oceanic
white-tip sharks (C. longimanus) conflicting w/ spotted dolphins w/
mixed results. Jean-Michel Cousteau showed me some footage taken in
1970's New Guinea that showed two adult transient orcas killing three
grey reef sharks and then parading the downed sharks before Cousteau
and his divers, w/ the sharks cross wise in the Orcas mouths. The Orcas
were not seen to eat the sharks, but played w/ the crushed and
convulsing cadavers for a couple of hours.
Ive never heard of an Orca v.s. White shark melee.
Cheers,
Sean.
PSRF.
**********************************************************************
Subject: Shark Images
Date: Sat, 18 Nov 1995 01:38:46 -0600
From: David Ritz
Correspondants of SHARK-L,
I've received several request for shark images, as well as some very kind
offers to help me get some photos scanned. While you're waiting for me to
get my act together, here's something I whipped up to keep all entertained.
I hope you enjoy it.
Please select a monospaced font to view this ascii image.
David
HAMMER.GIF
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Hot Sex! (at Seventy Feet)
It was a fabulous trip for scalloped hammerhead sharks, *Sphyrna lewini*.
It seemed that at least once a day we dropped into schools of sixty to
one-hundred hammerheads, with the largest females ten to eleven feet in
length and weighing upwards of eight-hundred to one-thousand pounds. It
was exhilarating beyond our wildest expectations. Hammerheads are such
amazingly powerful creatures; the ease with which they can accelerate into
a strong current, with an insignificant flip of their caudal fin is
awesome. Their oddly shaped heads sway, in an exaggerated fashion, from
side. They made us feel small and poorly adapted to this environment: the
ocean.
Our problem was that the videographers would hit the water and charge off
after these big sharks. The hammerheads would evaporate in a matter of
seconds, leaving hardly enough time to squeeze off more than a single still
frame.
After several frustrating dives with fleeing hammerheads, Diane and I
decided that we needed a novel approach. We would let the other divers
take off after the hammerheads, while we would simply drop down, find a
comfortable rock to perch on, and see what would come to us if we remained
in one place. With some luck, the hammerheads might return to our entry
point, and we would have a private showing.
Time elapsed as we watched barnacle encrusted turtles gliding past and
studied the ubiquitous and plentiful long spined urchins, as whitetip reef
sharks, *Triaenodon obesus*, cruised the rocks. Occasionally, a solitary
hammerhead appeared in the distance, at the edge of visibility. Some
action caught our attention: two whitetips swam away from the rocks toward
open water. As they swam, one of the sharks began biting the other in
front of the dorsal fin, on the pectoral fin, along the gill slits and at
the back of the head. We looked at each other. I gave the international
sign for copulation, and we gave a knowing nod as the whitetips disappeared
into the blue.
We were reaching the time limit we had agreed on before the dive, and I
swam off my boulder, to begin the long swim around Ma=F1ulita Island to the
pick-up site. Suddenly, Diane began squealing excitedly. She pointed
wildly to the rear of the boulder, where the two whitetips we had seen
earlier were now rolling around among the long spined sea urchins. I had
long dreamed of observing sharks mating, but the raw sexuality of the
experience surprised me, with all of its biting and thrashing around. I
began taking photos, trying to give the strobe adequate time to recycle.
I felt a little odd, as I photographed the scene. Was I being too
voyeuristic? I took my eye away from the viewfinder, and looked around. I
laughed to myself, as I realized that all kinds of fish, including several
immature whitetips, had gathered to watch these two mating. I thought, "I
guess this is how its done in these parts," and returned to my photography.The show only lasted about five minutes before our copulating sharks
separated and swam away from the rocks and sea urchins. The male still had
a single clasper rotated to the mating position, as it swam away from the
crowd of onlookers, which included two thrilled human interlopers, noisily
blowing bubbles. It is sometimes amazing what huge payoffs exist for a
little patience -- and a ton of luck!
David Ritz with Diane Pogrant
____________________________________________________________________________
That was hot sex at seventy feet! 8-)
Story time will come again, I promise. `-)
-- David
Date: Wed, 15 Nov 1995 13:01:00 +0000
From: "Jeffrey C. Carrier"
Subject: Re: Hot Sex at 70' 8-O
Would be curious to know what effects your strobe had (if you could determine)
on your mating subjects. Wes Pratt and I abandoned strobes several years ago
and switched to available light (ok for us; we're in _REALLY_ shallow
water) for stills. We found that copulation could be made to stop when
strobes went off and could show other responses to the light if the copu-
lation did not cease entirely. Nick Caloyianis, a photographer who worked
with us a few years ago, also captured some wonderful images which appeared
with our article in Nat Geo, again usuing _ONLY_ available light. If you
managed a five minute show with strobes, I'm envious!
We've often thought of ourselves as voyeurs, but since we're biologists
we hide under the guise of "science". It is a very impressive sight to
witness, and I still find it amusing that even at distances so close that
our cameras have hit the animals on occasion, they continue to "enjoy
the moment"!!! Anyone ever read Gearge Schaller's wonderful tale of
mating gorillas in "Year of the Gorilla"? Oblivious of everything...
including cliffs!!! Sharks seem to be similarly undistracted...
Ahhhhhhh... stories are much more enjoyable than taxonomy and systematics
(sorry, L.J.V.C.)...
Jeff
My gut feeling is that they may have remained coupled longer if I hadn't
been down there with a blazing flash. I was shooting a Nikonis-V with the
35mm lens and a single Nikonis SB-102. I managed to take fourteen frames
of this pair while they were coupled. The was almost no way that I would
have gotten more than a blur when you consider that I normally work with
slow chrome films. As it was, there were times the sharks were flailing
around enough that the images some of the images show significant motion
blur -- at 1/1500 sec or less of strobe lighting. (Aren't these things
used to stop motion?)
I kept thinking to myself, "Damn! I wish I had the 15mm mounted! Sh*t! I
wish I had the 15 mounted!" In retrospect, it's probably a good thing I
didn't -- I nearly caught a caudal fin in the chops several times as is. I
hate to think how close I would have been while looking through the
viewfinder for the 15.
I only had the stobe along on the slight chance that I would be close
enough to actually illuminate a subject without suffering from terminal
back-scatter. I was lucky enough to observe sharks copulating, let alone
get a few decent photos. Undeer the conditions presented -- 15:00, light
overcast, 50-55 ft. vis, 70 fsw -- if I hadn't used the flash, I would have
shot junk.
**************************************************************************
Subject: American Elasmobranch Web Site opens
Date: Fri, 17 Nov 1995 08:18:08 +0000
From: "Jeffrey C. Carrier"
It is with great pleasure that we announce that the American Elasmobranch
Society (AES) Web Site has just been pupped. With a gestation period akin
to that of S. acanthias, the site is in its infancy but growing rapidly.
Hidden at an undisclosed location in south central Michigan and well
protected by trained, gravid Ginglymostoma cirratum, the site
contains various links to other shark URL's, abstracts of research papers
given at the 1995 summer meetings in Edmonton, membership information,
and subscription information for elasmobranch discussion groups.
Graphics are being prepared and ideas, contributions, and critique
are welcomed.
Those contributing artwork or photographs should recognize that such
materials are easily downloaded. As such, only materials which the
contributor wishes to become "public domain" should be considered.
I would welcome your active participation and would gladly acknowledge
contributions. Materials submitted for the page may be subject to review
by those more highly skilled than the web editor...
Enjoy!
HTTP://147.124.34.22/aes/aesintro.htm
Jeff Carrier
Email