Shark kills French diver in Marsa Alam

[BlueKnight]

Hi All. Just thought I would add a little somthing to the equation. I once heard right or wrong that most shark attacks were due to the fact we look a little like seals. For example, surf boards from under water have a similar sillouette to a seal heance a lot of bitten surf board. Perhaps when this poor lady duck dived she mimiced a distressed fish abeit a big one I am no marine bioligist but it does give rise to thought. Oh remind me never to snorkel in black wet suite near killer whales lol.

 

[vladimir]

Hi All. Just thought I would add a little somthing to the equation. I once heard right or wrong that most shark attacks were due to the fact we look a little like seals. For example, surf boards from under water have a similar sillouette to a seal heance a lot of bitten surf board. Perhaps when this poor lady duck dived she mimiced a distressed fish abeit a big one I am no marine bioligist but it does give rise to thought. Oh remind me never to snorkel in black wet suite near killer whales lol.

There is not a lot of overlap between the cold-water habitat of seals and the tropical to warm-temperate habitat of C. longimanus, the shark implicated in this attack.

The idea that the victim mimicked a distressed fish in some respect makes sense to me though.

I have never read an account of an orca attack on a snorkeler in open water. There have been attacks on trainers at theme parks...they may have had snorkels, but nobody thinks they were cases of mistaken identity.

 

[BlueKnight]

The orca comment was on the light hearted side. I dont have enough logged dives to know what it is like diving with sharks and they are pretty scarce in the UK I am looking forward to the first experiance of diving with these great animals and this thread although has shown me to respect them, it certainly hasent put me off.

 

[Tigerman]

...
I have never read an account of an orca attack on a snorkeler in open water. There have been attacks on trainers at theme parks...they may have had snorkels, but nobody thinks they were cases of mistaken identity.

No, those where probably cases of revenge

 

[airmech]

Oh remind me never to snorkel in black wet suite near killer whales lol.

i thought there was no recorded cases of killer whales killing humans.

i saw a programme where the film makers were recording a pod of killer whales over a long period.
they were interested in the pod, as they used to beach themselves to catch seals
+then use the power of their tails, to get themselves back off the beach +into the water.

the pod had a few young whales.
one of the young whales was being shown how to do the beaching, catching +unbeaching....
later on it got stuck on the beach +wouldve died.
all the pod were just off shore making noises, to encourage the young whale to get off the beach.

the film crew figured out that the young whale was stuck +would die.
they went +helped the whale off the beach +back into the sea.

the whales mother, swam over to the film makers +appeared to thank them?
after that, they said they were treated like honorary pod members +allowed to swim amongst the pod

 

[airmech]

There is not a lot of overlap between the cold-water habitat of seals and the tropical to warm-temperate habitat of C. longimanus, the shark implicated in this attack.

The idea that the victim mimicked a distressed fish in some respect makes sense to me though.

or the shark thought the lone swimmer duck diving down towards it, was a threat?

 

[wilde100]

or the shark thought the lone swimmer duck diving down towards it, was a threat?

I'm guess that the swimmer being alone contributed to the attack. We have always agreed that a combination of factors are always present in any incident.

In this case, I believe whether it be the swimmer silhouette, her profile mimicking a distressed fish, or that she was separated from the group all contributed to the incident.

Most glaring, I believe that the swimmers were probably not properly briefed on safety precautions before entering the water - but I'm open to being corrected by people with more concrete information than the guesswork I'm putting out.

 

[Crowley]

or the shark thought the lone swimmer duck diving down towards it, was a threat?

It would appear, from everything I've heard, that this may indeed have been the case.

 

[InTheDrink]

It would appear, from everything I've heard, that this may indeed have been the case.

I'm not an expert but it sounds more like she was behaving like prey and also separated. These guys don't appear to feel threatened much, they seem quite ok with close contact and with a single snorkeller I can't imagine it would have felt trapped, but who knows.

Sounds more like she looked like a fleeing fish, flapping/finning, heading towards surface. They appear to like contrasting colours too (e.g. white against black) but I don't know whether this was true in this case, whether she was wearing a shortie or something.

Crowley, do you have any direct info to the contrary or to support the 'threat' motive? Just curious as I haven't heard anything of substance since getting back and wondering whehter there's been any update on the thinking.

Cheers,
John

 

[InTheDrink]

Most glaring, I believe that the swimmers were probably not properly briefed on safety precautions before entering the water - but I'm open to being corrected by people with more concrete information than the guesswork I'm putting out.

I believe that swimming/snorkelling was quite common up and until the accident. I can't vouch for any briefing prior to the accident but certainly the briefing I received two weeks after were very thorough indeed - and snorkelling swimming & night dives in locations where longimanus frequents is no longer allowed.