Epaulet sharks more in danger

[billt4sf]

'Walking sharks' at greater risk of extinction than previously thought

"Epaulet “walking sharks” are at a greater risk of extinction than previously thought, with new information about their distribution leading researchers to expect greater efforts to protect them from human threats such as fishing and climate change."

We saw one in Misool last month.

- Bill

 

[Dan]

I saw this little guy (see the picture, below) 3 years ago in the same place you saw it last month.

The first time I saw one was about 6 years ago, when I did a night dive in Misool area with a liveaboard.

The most recently I saw two of them in Pulau Pef, 6 months ago. One of them during one of the night dive. Another one I saw when I was having dinner in Raja4Diver Resort. One of the crew happened to look down to the water, below the restaurant and alerted us about it. I grabbed my iPhone and walked to the knee-deep water & took a few pictures of the little guy (about a foot long). It didn't care about me. It was too busy looking for dinner hiding under rocks & sands, below the restaurant. At one time it crawled between my feet.

I didn't know that it is endangered species until you mentioned it here.

 

[Wisnu]

easy to sight in Ternate. There's several resident walking sharks in less than 1 meter depth water of ternate city waterfront.
Every night many people gathering and watching these lovely sharks without getting wet.
when we dived there, hundreds eyes watching us