SeaMonster at Dubai Aquarium and Underwater Zoo?

[jagfish]

This incredible video shows an absolute monster shark in a Dubai Mall Aquarium. The deformed moth makes the giant shark look all the more menacing as it hovers just inches away from the nervous tank divers. Would you do this? Also, anyone know what's up with this shark's mouth?

[COLOR=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.87)][/COLOR]

 

[Dan]

I think that’s just an old Sand Tiger Shark (STS) that no longer can retract its jaws back. I dove in North Carolina to see them. You can see normal jaws of STS in the video clip, below.

 

[Searcaigh]

Haven't been in Dubai Mall in years, mainly because it has no attraction for me to be honest, although I did win a photo competition back around 2011/2012 and had a free dive in the aquarium, nothing special.

What surprises me though is that these guys are wearing large fins. When I dived there everything was supplied, you couldn't use you own gear (to avoid contamination issues) and they supplied fins that were not much larger than my feet.

Dived with Sand Tigers in S. Africa back in the late 90s, I need to find these photos (pre-digital), they called them Ragged Tooth Sharks down there.

 

[tridacna]

Dived with Sand Tigers in S. Africa back in the late 90s, I need to find these photos (pre-digital), they called them Ragged Tooth Sharks down there.

We used to call them Raggies. I dived with them many times in False Bay, South Africa. Same waters as My Octopus Teacher. They're quite docile unless you accidentally kick them then all bets are off.

 

[RyanT]

It looks like tissue necrosis that has largely healed. Fish that have been in an aquarium for a period of time commonly develop a series of ailments that we don't see in nature. The flopped over dorsal fin of killer whales (Ok a whale, not a fish) is one example that many people are familiar with. Obesity is another common issue; I sometimes have trouble identifying a catfish species in public aquaria because of this.

 

[tursiops]

Sand Tigers are all over the wrecks off North Carolina. Dozens at a time. Just swimming slowly around.

 

[Kriet]

My wife posted on the YouTube comments the following :

Hi Jim! Yes... That's definitely a Sand Tiger shark. Not sure why it's mouth is so deformed. But, what I am sure of is that shark was completely asleep when that video was shot. I was a volunteer diver at an aquarium for 8 years and it was very common for sand tigers to circle slowly like that over divers when they were asleep. Another indication of that is the gaping of it's mouth. When sharks sleep, they swim very slowly and gape their mouths. The shark is gaping is mouth and literally "gasping for breath" trying to keep itself oxygenated enough since it's not swimming fast enough to push enough water across it's gills to keep oxygenated. The shark is in a "semi conscious" state, basically kind of like sleep walking.

This is just my own personal theory, but I think our exhalations attract them somehow while they are sleeping. I did "dive shows" regularly at the aquarium while scuba diving with a communication mask on. And there would be a live audience that I would interact with and answer their questions about the sharks, conservation, etc. It was very common to see sharks sleeping and behaving in this manner and they would oftentimes hover over us why diving when they were sleeping.

At no time were the divers actually in any danger of being "eaten alive"... It's a very harmless encounter.

 

[WinfieldNC]

Like others have said Sand Tigers swarm some of the NC wrecks. They leave you alone.

 

[Dan]

Like others have said Sand Tigers swarm some of the NC wrecks. They leave you alone.

Schooling STS! Nice!

 

[chris kippax]

Grey nurse in Australia. Labradors of the sea