Dramatic Video of Whale Shark Finning Survivor !

[Nikki McAllen]

Just posted a video of a harassment experience I witnessed in Koh Tao Thailand in 2009.

Notable besides the rough treatment this shark was experiencing was the indication it was nearly dorsal-finned recently in it's past.

A painful rag of fin was trailing and flapping in the current, worse yet I witnessed something I have never before seen in an whale shark: Aggressive Posturing. One shot shows an arched back and dropped pectoral fins in response to the harassment. I was there, it was very clear. The poor creature must have been in a lot of pain.

I offer this Ken Burns style video to the diving community for the purpose of harassment education. I sincerely think many divers just don't realize how annoying they can be during such a fit of excitement. Goes for other 'charismatic megafauna' as well. These shots show that even a gentle giant can have a bad day...

Fluorodiving: Science and Beauty of Coral Fluorescence: YouTube - Whale Shark Finning-Attack Survivor, Koh Tao

 

[smellzlikefish]

I'm not sold on a few points. For starters, those "pilot fish" look like cobia to me, but that's small.

I think the recent "finning" attack you mention was more likely a boat strike. Yes it removed some of his dorsal fin, but a finner would have removed all of it and I imagine in a much cleaner cut.

Finally, the "arched back" display isn't obvious in the picture you presented. I've seen sharks arch their back, but only species that have teeth and intend to use them. It is presented in a much more obvious fashion than this pic demonstrates. Same comment with the dropped pec fins you describe. While this is a fairly common behavior, it is commonly overused by laypeople. I know you are going to argue this point, everybody does. I remain skeptical.

 

[Nikki McAllen]

I think the recent "finning" attack you mention was more likely a boat strike. Yes it removed some of his dorsal fin, but a finner would have removed all of it and I imagine in a much cleaner cut.

No way was it a boat strike ! It would have shredded the fin more, injured it's back and lie on a different plane. There are not so many speedboats in thailand as in Hawaii and a fishing boat would not travel fast enough to strike a whale shark. This was a cleaner-cut. Most likely happened by a fisherguy who jumped on the back of a basking shark and sawed away as long as he could hold on. Its very common here.

"Pilot Fish" my friend are a generic reference. I'm not at the genus-species level when limited to the text effects in iMovie.

As for the arch display, I go into this in more detail on my blog. I've been watching creatures in the water and on land for decades reading body language, mostly to survive the adventures I've enjoyed. This shark was in a lot of: Pain? Anger? Fear? You just had to be there, sadly I didn't get the encounter on video.

I have never seen a video of a whale shark 'threat posturing' anywhere on the web but I've seen it in many other animals. Its pretty universal. Sad I couldn't bring this information to the world in a format that was more clear. I see it in the photo, but again I was a witness. It's seared on my brain....

I am nowhere 'lay people' when it comes to understanding the way of the natural world, read my profiles. You'll just have to trust my testimony of what I saw -- or not