Tiger Shark!

[marpacifica]

Thursday Dec. 18, Saipan time, a "large" tiger shark was seen in Tanapag Lagoon cruising the Shinsu Maru wreck. Someone from a Japanese dive group managed to snap a photo of the shark as it was ripping apart a sea turtle. Here's the photo. Not the best photo in the world because of backscatter and distance, but given the circumstances it's amazing someone had the guts to take the photo in the first place. If you look closely you'll see the outline of the turtle.

On Friday the tiger shark was spotted trying to attack spotted eagle rays at Eagle Ray City, also in the lagoon. Although there have been many documented sightings of tiger sharks off Saipan and Tinian, this is the first report of one in the lagoon. Maybe some of you remember the U.S. Navy ship that was torpedoed off Tinian Island during WWII, leaving hundreds of sailors to fend for themselves in the open ocean over several days. Only about 40 survived, the others having been eaten by tiger and other sharks.

I dived in California many times and was never afraid of Great Whites there because they prefer seals and the like, but these tiger sharks are a different story. They'll attack and eat just about anything. I dove Eagle Ray City yesterday and the whole time I was watching my back, and the eagle rays were even more skittish than usual. But in the whole scheme of things, more divers die of drowning and decompression related accidents than shark attacks.

 

[GotAir]

for sharing both Pic and some history also.
Thanks again!

Mike

 

[jiveturkey]

Whoa! That thing looks big. :eyecrazy:

 

[ygthad]

Thanks, that was a good shot..

 

[drbill]

My worst experience with a shark was with a tiger in the Sea of Cortez back in 1971. I wasn't diving, but was paddling in a double kayak several miles off shore in the midriff islands near Tiburon Island. I caught a glimpse of something coming up on the port side and turned my head to see a big fin and a shark's head surfacing. It rolled slightly and looked me "in the eye" before passing under the bow and slightly lifting the kayak up. Our kayak was 18' long and we estimated the shark to be 20-22' long.

We headed towards the nearest "land" (a small island). When we finally got the couragfge to paddle back it was night. Once in the small fisherman's restaurant on the beach, we were treated like heros. The local shrimp fishermen had seen us out there in that "tiny boat" with the shark that had eaten several of their crew and thought we were the bravest men in the Sea of Cortez. We didn't let them see our underwear.

Dr. Bill

 

[marpacifica]

Thanks for sharing your story, Dr. Bill. That must have been a harrowing experience. Just another reason to give pause that the underwater world is a dangerous place. We can try to minimize the risks, but can't eliminate them completely. Maybe Peter Benchley should have written Jaws about the tiger shark.

The turtle that the tiger shark ate was about 3 feet long. The shark attacked it from the front, biting off its head first to incapacitate it, ripping off its flippers next, then chowing down on the carapace. Imagine the force needed to bite through turtle shell. I didn't get any reports of the size of the shark, but if you look at the photo, the turtle makes the shark look like a hammerhead or scallophead shark, with a 3 foot long "hammer". Extrapolate from there and I would estimate the shark to be over 15' long.

 

[Gilligan]

Thanks for sharing that pic. I consider the Tiger Shark to be the most dangerous of all the sharks here on Maui. I have never encountered one. That's not to say one hasn't seen me. The one in the photo below was off the beaches of West Maui and estimated at 22 feet and was checking out a dead sea turtle. This was in Aug of 2001. The photo was taken by a lifeguard on a waverunner.

 

[R_Deluca]

Thanks for the pic and the info! That sucker looked big!

Safe Diving!

 

[DiverColt]

Woh! those are big suckers!

thanks for sharing-colt