Recent
activities of the Coral Coast Crew!
… Moving on from whale sharks to update you
on sharks eating whales!
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Earning their stripes as the appropriately nicknamed
“garbage man of the sea”.
“garbage man of the sea”.
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| MIGRATION MEDIA 2014 Coral Bay |
A deceased humpback whale was recently washed across the Ningaloo Reef at Coral Bay.
In-tow was a pretty impressive cohort of tiger sharks.
The entire carcass was munched to the bone in under 12 hours, which highlights the efficiency of these ‘Coral Coast Crew’ members at cleaning up a big mess. Imagine the stinking mess on the shore-line without this proper garbage removal system.
Tiger sharks truly are the ‘garbage men of the ocean’ and are vital to the health of the marine ecosystem as an apex predator.
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| All photos by MIGRATION MEDIA 2014 Coral Bay |
There is wicked footage by I am having trouble getting it on here... check out the facebook group (Post: May 21)
The tiger shark (Galeocerdo cuvier) is a species of requiem shark and the only member
of their genus. This relatively large macropredator is capable
of attaining a length of over 5 m and is found in many tropical and temperate waters.
Renowned for its voracious appetite and indiscriminate
feeding habits, the tiger shark has been known to consume an incredible array
of items (including human rubbish) besides its standard fishy prey. This
behaviour enables these sharks to overcome food shortage problems, which can
affect species that feed more selectively. The tiger shark’s curiosity and
tendency to sample such a wide variety of objects has unfortunately, meant that
on occasion it has been responsible for attacks on humans. These
misunderstanding can be fatal as a result of its large size, but are extremely
rare in spite of a great deal of media hype. They are actually an incredibly
beautiful creature and it is an exhilarating experience to swim beside them in
a peaceful and respectful manner.
Apart from these occasional gatherings to feast, the tiger
shark is a solitary species that usually
more active at night, moving to inshore locations where it engages in active
hunting of prey, as well as scavenging, before returning to deeper waters where
it spends the day.
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| and this is all that remains 3 days later... totally stripped clean, down to the bone!! MIGRATION MEDIA 2014, Coral Bay |
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Arkive
(2013) The Tiger Shark (Galeocerdo cuvier).
Arkive organisation, viewed 22 May 2014
<http://www.arkive.org/tiger-shark/galeocerdo-cuvier/>.
Heithaus, M.
R. (2001) The biology of tiger sharks, Galeocerdo
cuvier, in Shark Bay, Western Australia: Sex ratio, size distribution,
diet, and seasonal changes in catch rates. Environmental Biology of Fishes, 61(1),
25-36.
All photos by MIGRATION MEDIA 2014 Coral Bay
All photos by MIGRATION MEDIA 2014 Coral Bay
I watched your video! 12 hours is insane! How is it that people can get so close to them in a feeding frenzy like this I would think that most people would be staying clear of a bunch of hungry sharks..
ReplyDeleteHaha, not the Coral Bay Crew ;) These aren't just any random 'people' getting in the water in this situation. Through many experiences swimming with these incredible creatures and so much time spent in the water with them sharing their reef, CB crew tend to gain a bit more of an understanding of these sharks, while keeping a healthy respect for them.
DeleteI have swam with a fair few tigers, and (I'm not saying I'm an expert, but) there a few subtle tell-tale signs of aggression and frustration shown for you to get the hunch that you should be getting out of the water and leaving the shark alone. I have even swum with a pretty cruisey tiger that I discovered (once I dove down to him) had a turtle in his mouth for lunch. He seemed pretty chill and happy with himself, and I figured he had his mouth full and wouldn't be worried about me.
As you can see from the footage, the attitude from the sharks is not very 'frenzied' and the crew would have gauged this. The sharks would've been much more interested in the hunk of tasty blubber in front of them ...and did you see how fat and full their bellies were!
These large apex predators are still wild and unpredictable creatures though, and deserve respect and our protection! Hopefully everyone can see and start to understand this more - they are not the "monstrous man-eating beasts" that the media and the government seem to think and make out that they are. #stopthewasharkcull !
I've always admired sharks and now I like them even more! Do other species of shark perform this garbage removal service? Do you get great whites around there?
DeleteIt really is incredible how quickly that carcass was stripped! Any idea why the whale died? I find it intriguing that these sharks have such a varied diet. I guess that this means that they won’t be as badly affected by environmental change as other species (in terms of diet flexibility)? Is there any evidence of a dominance hierarchy when they come together in large aggregations such as this example of feeding on that whale? Very interesting.
ReplyDelete