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10 ft. white shark being eaten? Mystery solved!

Yesterday we talked about the international headlines of “Great white shark being eaten by sea monster”.

Here is a response by CISRO, the organization who placed the tag on the shark in question.

When we looked at its data there was a period of approximately three weeks just before the tag surfaced where the temperature recorded was higher than the surrounding sea, but where the tag continued to ‘dive’ in a pattern consistent with a white shark. During this time, the tag failed to record light. Data before and after suggest the tag was functioning normally. The temperature recorded for these three weeks was consistent with that of the core body temperature of a white shark but too low for something like a killer whale.

They go on to explain, what they think had happened.

At one point the shark that had eaten the tag dived to a depth of 570 m – this is not unusual for white sharks – it is normal behaviour. This dive took place about one week prior to the tag recording the higher temperatures (not immediately before as some have reported) and the two events are not related.

All evidence suggests that the tag had been eaten by another white shark. We have seen white sharks biting each other before, sometimes removing pieces of tissue in the process. We concluded that this was the most likely explanation – One shark bit off a little more than he could chew and ended up swallowing the tag. 

We never concluded that the 3m shark was consumed by another much larger shark.

Yesterday I questioned the “scientists” conclusion, that a sea monster ate the shark. Now we know that there were not even any scientists that concluded that, it was simply the filmmaker ignoring what the group who placed the tag in the first place had to say. Now that’s something you’d expect from a Sci Fi channel production, not a Smithsonian “documentary”!

Cheers,
Martin Graf
CEO Shark Diver


About Shark Diver. As a global leader in commercial shark diving and conservation initiatives Shark Diver has spent the past decade engaged for sharks around the world. Our blog highlights all aspects of both of these dynamic and shifting worlds. You can reach us directly at staff@sharkdiver.com.

12
Jun 2014
By Shark DiverUncategorizedComments Off on 10 ft. white shark being eaten? Mystery solved!

Great White Shark eaten by even bigger Great White Shark?

 The story that a tagged great white shark has been eaten by another great white shark is making headlines around the world. Various news outlets like UPI are reporting that “Australian scientists are searching for a “mystery sea monster” that likely devoured a nine-foot-long great white shark they’d been tracking.” and People magazine is saying  it was a “colossal cannibal great white shark”  and even stating that it’s size is “estimated at 16 feet long and over 2 tons”

Now what has lead these “scientists” to this conclusion? In the following video they say that the shark suddenly plunged to 580 meters, about 1900 ft., where the temperature of the tag went from 46 degrees farenheit to 78. (BTW. the tagged shark shown at 2:12 in the video, is actually one of our Guadalupe sharks) People magazine states that “They (the researchers) end up coming to the terrifying hypothesis that a “colossal cannibal great white shark” – estimated at 16 feet long and over 2 tons – snacked on his lil’ buddy. The scientists offer several suggestions as to how this nightmare become reality: Perhaps this was a territorial dispute, or maybe the larger shark was so hungry it was driven to attack another of its own species” 

Wow, that is amazing! They not only know that this shark has been killed, they also know what killed it and even estimate the size of the killer. How the heck did they do that? Estimate the size and species of a predator by the temperature of a tag. And here I was, finding it incredible that another guy claims to be able to do that by the shape of a dorsal fin.

So let’s look at a few facts. The great white sharks do indeed maintain a body temperature of a few degrees above the water temperature. According to Elasmo-research.org, great white sharks maintain a muscle temperature of 7-9 degrees f, and a stomach temperature of 13-25 degrees f above water temperature. The scientists claim that the tag could not have fallen off, because it would have recorded a lower temperature first, before the jump to the higher temperature, after it was eaten. So if that were true, that would put the maximum temperature inside a great white shark stomach at 64 degrees and not 78. 

Since the tags we are talking about here, are external, they record the temperature of the water and not that of the sharks muscle. Therefore, they would not have recorded a lower temperature after falling off. The fact that it plummeted straight down to 1900 feet is a further indication that the tag fell off. If another shark had attacked this 9+ ft great white, there would have been a struggle and they would not just have plummeted down. Also, the typical attack behavior of a great white shark is to strike and let the prey die, not fight with it and take it down deep.

Having watched great white sharks at Isla Guadalupe for 13 years, I’ve seen them fight, bite each other and noticed that the smaller sharks tend to stay away from the bigger ones. Those actions always seemed to be a way to establish the pecking order and not an attempt to kill and eat the other shark. As a matter of fact, when we encountered a dead shark a number of years ago, all the other sharks stayed away from the area for a while, indicating that they weren’t comfortable being in an area with a dead one of their own.

I have no problem saying that I have no idea what happened to this shark, but for the scientists to state that a “colossal cannibalistic shark” ate this individual, simply because of the temperature recording of a tag, is not very scientific at all.

This whole thing happened 9 years ago. So why is this all over the news now? Well, according to People, The Smithsonian Channel repackaged an Australian documentary called The Search for the Ocean’s Super Predator into another doc called Hunt for the Super Predator.

So all this is done to promote a “documentary” by the Smithsonian channel. Why am I not surprised that after “Nat. Geo” and “The Discovery Channel” they are just going after sensational headlines to boost their ratings as well. Let’s just scare the heck out of people by letting them believe that there are monsters lurking in the Ocean. It’s not like people don’t have an irrational fear of sharks already. It’s not like they are killing sharks based on this irrational fear. No, they need to stoke that fear so that they can sell their stupid “documentary”. Damn the consequences!

Cheers,
Martin Graf
CEO
Shark Diver

 

About Shark Diver. As a global leader in commercial shark diving and conservation initiatives Shark Diver has spent the past decade engaged for sharks around the world. Our blog highlights all aspects of both of these dynamic and shifting worlds. You can reach us directly at staff@sharkdiver.com

10
Jun 2014
By Shark Divershark hysteria, stupid documentary., swimming with sharks, UncategorizedComments Off on Great White Shark eaten by even bigger Great White Shark?

Sharkfishing tournament. A silver lining?

They just posted the results of the 2014 Ocean City Shark tournament hereThe bad news, they killed 15 sharks, 7 blue-, 6 mako- and 2 thresher-sharks.The good news, they released 107 sharks. The prize money for the release division was slightly higher t…

03
Jun 2014
By Shark DiverUncategorizedComments Off on Sharkfishing tournament. A silver lining?

Shark scare in Orange County?

A couple of days ago, there was a fake shark scare in Newport Beach, CA.

The Orange County Register reports:  

source

“NEWPORT BEACH – The warning was clear: A big, aggressive great white shark is on the loose along the shores in Newport Beach, and beachgoers are advised to stay away from the water.”

Problem was, local lifeguards and the U.S. Coast Guard never heard of any shark danger. 

“I guess it was one of the local guys; someone who wanted to keep the crowds down at a break out there,” Coast Guard search and rescue controller Sandy Needle said about the notice. “There was nothing from the Coast Guard.” 

The warning – which appeared on official-looking letterhead that said “United States Coast Guard” in the notification dated Wednesday – was floating around on Facebook, claiming that three incidents should put beachgoers on high alert.

The article goes on to give the details of the warning which contained the following paragraph:

The third sighting, the notice read, came when two lifeguards got a call about an adult-sized shark that bumped two kayakers and swam away after the boaters struck it “with an oar in the gill area of the fish.”

So far so good, it looks like the media is responsible for once and instead of hyping up a shark scare, are trying to calm the public.

The article then states, how they recognized the warning as fake.

“Although the flier looked official, there were a lot of clues that it was a fake.
“There’s a lot of misspellings, and it called a shark a fish,” Needle said.”
Well there you have it. It called the shark a fish!  No self respecting Coast Guard representative would call a shark a fish! Everyone knows it’s not a fish, it’s a…. hmm, no not that, it’s a …… , I’m stumped! Any of you know?

Maybe I should be asking an expert in these matters.

You can read the entire article here

Cheers,
Martin Graf
CEO
Shark Diver

About Shark Diver. As a global leader in commercial shark diving and conservation initiatives Shark Diver has spent the past decade engaged for sharks around the world. Our blog highlights all aspects of both of these dynamic and shifting worlds. You can reach us directly at staff@sharkdiver.com.

24
May 2014
By Shark DiverUncategorizedComments Off on Shark scare in Orange County?

Where do “our” great white sharks give birth to their young?

Back in 2000, when we started diving with great white sharks at Isla Guadalupe, we knew very little about where the sharks were going, when they are not at the Island. I remember the days, when the scientists thought that they went to Shark cafe/Sofa t…

27
Apr 2014
By Shark DiverDr. Domeier, great white shark migration, Marine conservation science institute, Nicole Nasby-Lucas, swimming with sharks, Uncategorized, white shark puppingComments Off on Where do “our” great white sharks give birth to their young?

A new friend at Guadalupe

We have a new friend at Isla Guadalupe. Meet “Myla” our new addition to the photo ID database. She’s a beautiful female!Cage diving with great white sharks at Isla Guadalupe. shark diving, “Mayla”I can’t wait to go back there this fall and see all our…

25
Apr 2014
By Shark Diverswimming with sharks, UncategorizedComments Off on A new friend at Guadalupe

Political reality in conservation!

OK, I know this is not strictly shark related, but how can we succeed in persuading our politicians to pass laws to protect our environment and endangered species, when they publicly violate the few laws they are passing?

source

This is a photo that Senator Cruz tweeted today. He’s proudly posing with fellow Senator Lee showing himself “doing a little shopping for the office” You can see his tweet here.
  
Just in case you are not aware, that it is illegal to bring any part of an endangered species into this country, here is a quote from the US Fish and Wildlife Service’s website. 

“Furs: Most of the world’s wild cats, including tigers and such spotted species as jaguar, leopard, ocelot, margay, and leopard cat, are protected. You cannot import skins or items made from, or trimmed with, the fur of these animals. Furs from seals, polar bears, and sea otters are also prohibited.”

You can read the entire section on their Law Enforcement page here.

It is frustrating to say the least, when all the hard work that goes into passing a law to protect our endangered species finally pays off, and a law is passed, only to see the lawmakers themselves violating those laws.

At least these two were dumb (or maybe arrogant) enough to post their illegal activities on twitter.

Cheers,
Martin Graf
CEO Shark Diver

About Shark Diver. As a global leader in commercial shark diving and conservation initiatives Shark Diver has spent the past decade engaged for sharks around the world. Our blog highlights all aspects of both of these dynamic and shifting worlds. You can reach us directly at sharkcrew@gmail.com.

24
Apr 2014
By Shark Diverlawmakers breaking law, senator cruz, senator Lee, senators breaking law, stupid politicians, UncategorizedComments Off on Political reality in conservation!