Russian citizen mauled to death by tiger shark off Egypt's Red Sea coast in rare attack

[HalcyonDaze]

Some of the theories are contradicting: throwing carcasses of dead sheep that died during livestock shipping is usually in deep waters far from the cost, so why the TS was almost beached on the shore?

Another theory that the area is suffering from overfishing, so the shark went to the shore, where perhaps people feed fish with bread crumbs etc. to attract fish and the shark took the opportunity too. But if livestock ships are throwing overboard dead animals, that presents a much better easy meal opportunity for a TS

Then I read the TS could be pregnant and was looking for an easy meal near the shore.

Breeding? Then there would be an abundance of shark sightings on daily basis, which isn't the case in this area.

Unfortunately, we may never know what really happened and why. These types of attacks are relatively rare, although there are shark attacks in the region every few years as was mentioned in this thread (I am not sure which shark species, most rumors mention Oceanic white tips?), but not as many as in the US, Australia etc. probably also less people engaged in water activities too.

The livestock transports would be heading into ports in Egypt, so that's basically laying a scent trail/chum line all the way from open water into shore.

As far as overfishing, tiger sharks aren't chasing down baitfish - sea turtles, marine mammals, rays, and other sharks are some of their primary food sources in addition to scavenging. They also tend to roam rather large areas and don't stay in one place for more than a few months - if there's no food, they move.

Regarding breeding, tiger sharks are weird - they seem to rely on numbers (max reported litter size is over 80 pups) rather than careful selection of pupping grounds. I've had a shark researcher with experience in the Caribbean and Hawaii tell me he's caught tiger shark pups in water over 1000 ft deep and in shallow seagrass flats; a few months ago off Florida an acquaintance of mine filmed a newborn (still had the yolk sac dangling from its throat) about four or five miles offshore in 150-200 ft of water. They seem to just drop the kids off wherever.

 

[JustSurfaceInterval]

I don't know if this has been referred to already, but anyway... here my 2 cents....
I came across this post by Shark Education on Facebook: French / English with (my opinion) interesting assumptions about this shark and a pertinent view about these sheeps in the Red Sea.
There are also 2 videos expanding on the subject, but both are in French.

 

[Dan]

I don't know if this has been referred to already, but anyway... here my 2 cents....
I came across this post by Shark Education on Facebook >>> French <<< / >>> English <<< with (my opinion) interesting assumptions about this shark and a pertinent view about these sheeps in the Red Sea.
There are also 2 videos expanding on the subject, but both are in French.

What I gathered from reading the article:
1. The shark was pregnant & needed food, especially easy meal floating on the surface like wounded fish. So the victim met such easy meal.
2. Missing body parts of the victim found in the shark stomach.
3. The shark size and markings (3m & caudal fin being cut, etc.) indicate that was the same shark that attacked 2 other people a year ago.

 

[BlueTrin]

What I gathered from reading the article:
1. The shark was pregnant & needed food, especially easy meal floating on the surface like wounded fish. So the victim met such easy meal.
2. Missing body parts of the victim found in the shark stomach.
3. The shark size and markings (3m & caudal fin being cut, etc.) indicate that was the same shark that attacked 2 other people a year ago.

I read the French version and couldn’t find #3

 

[JustSurfaceInterval]

FR: C’est une femelle pleine (résultat de l’autopsie) qui mesure moins de 3m de long.
EN: It was a pregnant female (according to the autopsy) measuring less than 3 meters in length.
and

FR: Sur toute la séquence de l’attaque, on voit en surface que le lobe supérieur de la nageoire caudale est coupé. Les vidéos du prélèvement du requin sur la plage montrent bien le lobe supérieur de la nageoire caudale coupé."
EN: Throughout the attack sequence, it is visible on the surface that the upper lobe of the caudal fin is cut. The videos of the shark being fished out on the beach clearly show the upper lobe of the caudal fin being cut.

FR: La théorie de « l’individu à problèmes » pourrait être une piste envisageable compte-tenu des accidents de l’année dernière. [...]
Il est possible que le requin ait appris et reproduit le même mode opératoire pour s’attaquer et se nourrir à nouveau sur un humain.
EN: The theory of the « rogue shark » could be a plausible avenue to consider, given the accidents from last year. [...]
It is possible that the shark learned and replicated the same modus operandi to attack and feed on humans again."

****
It is only a possibility...

 

[Raphus]

The shark last year was reported to be a mako shark, not a tiger. Snorker saw a mako minutes before the atack. I wonder why articles now claim it was a tiger last year aswell..

 

[HalcyonDaze]

FR: C’est une femelle pleine (résultat de l’autopsie) qui mesure moins de 3m de long.
EN: It was a pregnant female (according to the autopsy) measuring less than 3 meters in length.
and

FR: Sur toute la séquence de l’attaque, on voit en surface que le lobe supérieur de la nageoire caudale est coupé. Les vidéos du prélèvement du requin sur la plage montrent bien le lobe supérieur de la nageoire caudale coupé."
EN: Throughout the attack sequence, it is visible on the surface that the upper lobe of the caudal fin is cut. The videos of the shark being fished out on the beach clearly show the upper lobe of the caudal fin being cut.

FR: La théorie de « l’individu à problèmes » pourrait être une piste envisageable compte-tenu des accidents de l’année dernière. [...]
Il est possible que le requin ait appris et reproduit le même mode opératoire pour s’attaquer et se nourrir à nouveau sur un humain.
EN: The theory of the « rogue shark » could be a plausible avenue to consider, given the accidents from last year. [...]
It is possible that the shark learned and replicated the same modus operandi to attack and feed on humans again."

****
It is only a possibility...

I'm a bit curious about the reported size - under 3 meters. That's small for a mature female tiger shark; going by FishBase there are reports of mature females at roughly that size, but going by what I've been told by researchers in the Pacific and western Atlantic they see first reproduction in females that are around 3.5 meters or larger.

Couple possibilities:

• Tigers in the Red Sea hit reproductive maturity faster; you might expect this out of a population that's been overfished for an extended period of time.
• The report got the size wrong.
• The report of the shark being pregnant is wrong.

Frankly, the "rogue shark" hypothesis has never panned out; I suspect that bit is straight out of the Amity Island PR Course.

EDIT: Written by one of Clua's former minions ... okay, definitely add large grains of salt to that post.

"Hurghada Bay has been degraded by anthropogenic pressure for over 20 years. With the construction of hotels, removal of coral reefs for marina construction, discharge of waste into the sea from human activities, overexploitation of local fishing to feed tourists resulting in the depletion of natural prey for tiger sharks, coastal sport and tourist fishing, and intense navigation, all these factors create the ideal characteristics for the habitat of the species. Therefore, it is not surprising to see tiger sharks in Hurghada."

So, this degraded habitat with depleted natural prey for tiger sharks is "ideal characteristics for the habitat of the species?" I sincerely hope that's a botched translation.

 

[MB NZ]

Lots of theories and no doubt some marine biology PhDs will come out of this, but sometimes, **** just happens. I say this as a former research scientist. If sitings were occurring every week, month or time of year, that would be a different matter.