I saw some kind of shark today

[wedivebc]

We don't get too many sharks here in the Pacific Northwest so when you see one it's an event. I have seen dogfish plenty of times and the odd 6 gilll but this was not either.
It was about 6 feet long, the tail was more vertical than sickle shaped. It had a grey colour with lighter bottom. It had a definate triangular dorsal fin placed high on its back.
Unfortunately as we came over the wall my buddy startled it and all he saw was the cloud of silt it left as it bolted.
Anyone out there have an idea what type it might be?

 

[archman]

You'll need to refine your description. Dozens of species fit that "make".

 

[amazingbiologirl]

it could be anything coming from the lower pacific coast

 

[sb_diver]

Well I'm just looking through my Fish Guide of CA fishes, but there's a Salmon shark that has a pretty vertical tail that has a triangular dorsal in the line drawing. I don't know anything about their behaviour but the book says they're epipelagic so thats in the surface waters of the ocean...
here's the description: "Pt. Dume to Alaska. Length to 10 ft. Epipelagic. Dark Gray above, white below. Uncommon, often taken by salmon gill netters in Pacific Northwest."

Just a guess from your limited description.. I could be TOTALLY OFF though

but now that I look at fishbase their drawing is a little different... hmmm
http://www.fishbase.org/Summary/SpeciesSummary.cfm?genusname=Lamna&speciesname=ditropis

 

[jclifton]

All I saw today was a bunch of cube rats. I wish I had been with you.

 

[wedivebc]

Well I'm just looking through my Fish Guide of CA fishes, but there's a Salmon shark that has a pretty vertical tail that has a triangular dorsal in the line drawing. I don't know anything about their behaviour but the book says they're epipelagic so thats in the surface waters of the ocean...
here's the description: "Pt. Dume to Alaska. Length to 10 ft. Epipelagic. Dark Gray above, white below. Uncommon, often taken by salmon gill netters in Pacific Northwest."

Just a guess from your limited description.. I could be TOTALLY OFF though

but now that I look at fishbase their drawing is a little different... hmmm
http://www.fishbase.org/Summary/SpeciesSummary.cfm?genusname=Lamna&speciesname=ditropis

I looked at some pics today and that was the one I was thinking came closest. Like I said I only saw it for a short time and I don't have much shark spotting experience but I was hoping since there were so few species found in northern waters it may be something someone else has seen up here.

 

[wedivebc]

Good tip sb_diver I just did some surfing and found this http://conservationinstitute.org/pcnsalmonshark.htm
The most noticable feature of this shark was how fast it swam away.

 

[Diver0001]

We don't get too many sharks here in the Pacific Northwest so when you see one it's an event. I have seen dogfish plenty of times and the odd 6 gilll but this was not either.
It was about 6 feet long, the tail was more vertical than sickle shaped. It had a grey colour with lighter bottom. It had a definate triangular dorsal fin placed high on its back.
Unfortunately as we came over the wall my buddy startled it and all he saw was the cloud of silt it left as it bolted.
Anyone out there have an idea what type it might be?

It was probably a wanderer from further south. Check books of sharks from California and see if you recognise it. I remember in ..... hmmm ..... 1988 or so someone spotted what they thought was a great white in the Puget Sound. I probably wasn't a great white, it was probably a traveller from California too but it sure kept a lot of divers out of the water for a few weeks.....

R..

 

[sb_diver]

Good tip sb_diver I just did some surfing and found this http://conservationinstitute.org/pcnsalmonshark.htm
The most noticable feature of this shark was how fast it swam away.

Well since you said it swam fast away

From the link "Reports from the U.S. Navy have clocked salmon sharks exceeding 50 knots" thats pretty fast hehe

 

[Hyper-limits]

All I saw today was a bunch of cube rats. I wish I had been with you.

Well I was Dave's Buddy on this dive and I was the one who startled the damn thing.
Never saw it. I'm piss off!