Shark ID help

[Twisticles]

If anyone can ID this shark for me I'd be grateful. It was taken in April, off Koh Samui (east coast Thailand) at about 15m.

I've managed to ID everything else I snapped, but this one has kept me frustrated for hours!

And yeah - I'm new to underwater cameras, and my ID skills are crap...

Thanks in advance.

 

[Code Monkey]

Maybe a juvenile bull? 'Course I'm far from an expert...

 

[6-Gill Sharkman]

I'd say that was a Female Grey Reef Shark from the 'Ground Shark Family'. Nothing wrong with that picture! How was Thailand and the diving?

 

[SueMermaid]

That does not look like a gray reef shark. That looks like a bull shark (with several of her hitchhikers) to me, and what a beauty!

The second dorsal fin, the blunt head, the fat body, small eye, they all point to bull shark.

 

[6-Gill Sharkman]

I leaned more towards A Grey Reef Shark because of the bottom of the body. A bull shark should be more robust, having more of a 'dip' on the bottom portion of it's body. Otherwise they are very similar in features.......

 

[SubMariner]

I'd have to go with Reef as well. The tail is not quite right for a Bull.

JMHL,

 

[DeepBlueResort]

I would go for a reef shark

 

[Wijbrandus]

I think I would go for the boat.

Don't like sharks much, and I'm always glad I've never seen one so far.

It looks close enough to a Bull that I'd be bailing regardless.

 

[archman]

When reef sharks get as big and fat as that one, they can look a lot like bull sharks.

Of course, there ARE other species to consider. My shark ID book is in the office, anybody got one handy?

 

[Rick Murchison]

I do believe you have brother Bull (C. leucas) there... note the forward position of the dorsal relative to the trailing edge of the pectoral - in the grey reef they barely overlap. The anal stretches well aft of the second dorsal, where in the grey reef they are almost even with each other. Also, if the color contrasts are relatively true, the bull, like this shark, has very little shading, while the grey reef tends to have a bit more darkening of the trailing edge of the caudal. The caudal notch is just right for a bull too - and a little large (I think) for a reef.
'Course it could be some other shark I'm not familiar with, but of the ones I know well, if I saw this fellow it'd be "Bull" that flashes to mind.
Rick