Help ID this Shark

[matts1w]

This dude came upon us in the Komodo National Park last week. I was VERY surprised when he cruised by, and I saw no black or white tip. I immediately labeled it a gray reef shark...until a very knowledgeable and experienced friend swore up and down that it is a snaggletooth shark. A snaggletooth would be a super-rare finding in Komodo. Maybe somebody here has some insight? He/she is about 2 to 2.5 meters. FWIW, the students in the background were on the sixth dive of their lives. Not bad...

 

[Boiler-Racer]

This dude came upon us in the Komodo National Park last week. I was VERY surprised when he cruised by, and I saw no black or white tip. I immediately labeled it a gray reef shark...until a very knowledgeable and experienced friend swore up and down that it is a snaggletooth shark. A snaggletooth would be a super-rare finding in Komodo. Maybe somebody here has some insight? He/she is about 2 to 2.5 meters. FWIW, the students in the background were on the sixth dive of their lives. Not bad...

View attachment 896339

My first thought was a grey nurse shark, but that dorsal seems taller and more pointed.

Greynurse shark

www.dpi.nsw.gov.au

 

[Trilobite]

I'd post your photo on iNaturalist. There are some experts there who could help. (FWIW, iNat's computer vision AI says it isn't sure what it is, but does list the weasel shark family as its first suggestion--and snaggletooth is a member of that family, and I believe the only weasel shark that gets that large.) iNat has a few records from the Bali area for snaggletooth.

 

[arkstorm]

Definitely not a grey nurse shark / ragged tooth / sand tiger because the second dorsal is too small and no visible spotting.

Snaggletooth might be the correct identification.

The only thing that is giving me a glimmer of doubt is that the tail fin looks to be too straight, but that could just be the angle of the photo.

Always cool to see an unusual species.

 

[ScubaBunga]

This dude came upon us in the Komodo National Park last week. I was VERY surprised when he cruised by, and I saw no black or white tip. I immediately labeled it a gray reef shark...until a very knowledgeable and experienced friend swore up and down that it is a snaggletooth shark. A snaggletooth would be a super-rare finding in Komodo. Maybe somebody here has some insight? He/she is about 2 to 2.5 meters. FWIW, the students in the background were on the sixth dive of their lives. Not bad...

View attachment 896339

I think that is toby.

 

[Joneill]

I'd post your photo on iNaturalist. There are some experts there who could help. (FWIW, iNat's computer vision AI says it isn't sure what it is, but does list the weasel shark family as its first suggestion--and snaggletooth is a member of that family, and I believe the only weasel shark that gets that large.) iNat has a few records from the Bali area for snaggletooth.

It does look like photos of a snaggletooth on iNtauralist:

Snaggletooth Shark (Hemipristis elongata)

The snaggletooth shark, or fossil shark (Hemipristis elongata), is a species of weasel shark, in the family Hemigaleidae, and the only extant member of the genus Hemipristis. It is found in the Indo-West Pacific, including the Red Sea, from southeast Africa to the Philippines, north to China...

www.inaturalist.org

 

[Still Kicking]

White tips on pectoral and pelvic fins (but not others) match up.

 

[tursiops]

I'm thinking a Silky/Grey Reef Shark.

 

[arkstorm]

I'm thinking a Silky/Grey Reef Shark.

I don't think its a silky because front of dorsal fin starts too far forward and dorsal fin looks too tall to be a silky. Also, on silky shark, fin tips are dark not white.

 

[Joneill]

Also, on silky shark, fin tips are dark not white.

Same is true for a grey reef shark too, I believe!