Behaviour of Black Tip sharks

[Mufaddal]

I am from Sri Lanka. Last week I was diving on the East Coast in a place called Nilavelli. A small Island called Pigeon Island exists about 1 Km East of the beach. The island is surrounded by beds of Soft and Hard coral. Usual selection of Indian Ocean Reef fish are also present. For the first time we spotted some small black tip sharks while snorkelling - they were juvenilles given their size. We spotted them two days in a row. Never saw them while diving.

Are black tips territorial? Do the presence of juveniles mean that Adults are also present? Any particular habitat i.e. rocks, caves or open water prefered by Black tips during day light hours? Any insights?

 

[Frank Kohler]

I am from Sri Lanka. Last week I was diving on the East Coast in a place called Nilavelli. A small Island called Pigeon Island exists about 1 Km East of the beach. The island is surrounded by beds of Soft and Hard coral. Usual selection of Indian Ocean Reef fish are also present. For the first time we spotted some small black tip sharks while snorkelling - they were juvenilles given their size. We spotted them two days in a row. Never saw them while diving.

Are black tips territorial? Do the presence of juveniles mean that Adults are also present? Any particular habitat i.e. rocks, caves or open water prefered by Black tips during day light hours? Any insights?

here go to this site. this one will let you know all about black tip reef sharks.

black tip reef sharks

 

[Pauline]

Thanks for the website!

I only saw juvenilles (3 foot max) too on the Maldives. Always no in deeper water than waist-high. Never saw any of the adults in deeper water while diving there.

 

[Mufaddal]

Thanks for the web site!

 

[Frank Kohler]

Thanks for the web site!

no just happy i could help. black tips are cool to swim with all most as much as they are to fish for.

 

[Dot Wethington]

Are black tips territorial? Do the presence of juveniles mean that Adults are also present? Any particular habitat i.e. rocks, caves or open water prefered by Black tips during day light hours? Any insights?[/QUOTE]

Go to the NOAA Fisheries Web Site--- lots of info. on these sharks, I believe they come close to shore in order to birth their pups. They like schooling of fish close to shore and represent the 16% amt. of number of attacks on surfers or bathers. No attacks are fatal, but they do leave a good bite- especially if they are full grown--4-6 ft.-- live up to 10 years. I saw 4-5 blacktip sharks within neck high water in October and it was near a shallow reef at a beach-- they were feeding on small baitfish. Luckily I didn't pursue snorkeling by myself that day. They prefer the shallow water column in less than 100 ft. of water, close to coral reefs. The number I saw in daylight showed that they were indeed plentiful at around noon. The sharks I saw were about 4 ft long.