Whitetips in Hawaii

[smellzlikefish]

I have started a project for ethology involving whitetips. I know of five or six hotspots where they like to hang out, but I thought it would be a good idea to ask you, the community, where you tend to see a lot of them. I only have access to shore-diving spots (unless somebody wants to take me out in their boat ) which limits my search criteria. They don't necessarily have to be on scuba either, I find a lot on snorkel as well. Any thoughts?

 

[VBlueV]

shore dives..

lanai-lookout.. the cave directly under the primary entry..
they sleep waaaay in the back where scuba divers can't squeeze thru..
but sometimes they'll hang out in the ante-chamber..
or even in the giant archway adjacent.

e-beach.. in caves both south and north of the pipes..
seen multiples in the south caves..
mostly singles in the north caves.

boat dives..

san pedro (next to YO-257).. in the cargo hold..
this is a high percentage location!
they're usually under the wings of the airplanes.. if you kick over there..
and also sleep next to the fish pyramids.. also a good kick from the shipwrecks.

ewa pinnacles.. under the north and center ledges..
they seem bigger here.. maybe because they're at 80fsw..
seen sandbar and galapagos here too!

 

[spoolin01]

Not sure which island you dive at, or all of them. I'm not the most experienced by any means but I can say I've seen them regularly at many sites along the southwest Maui coast - south Kihei down to Makena Landing.

What sort of behaviors are you assessing?

 

[smellzlikefish]

VBlueV-Thanks for the info. I forgot about the ebeach caves! As for L. Lookout, I have heard they are there and keep looking, but have seen more monk seals than sharks there. Next time I'm out at the YO, I might fin on over to its neighboring vessel and have a peek inside.

Spoolin01-When I was working under whitetip.hawaii.edu (insert shameless plug here-send your whitetip pics to this website) I was looking at movements on and between islands. My project focused on Maui and Molokini. I am on Oahu, but travel to Maui and Kona pretty frequently. My current project involves building an ethogram outlining the agonistic behaviors of whitetips.

 

[bcyber]

agonistic -- jeezz I've never seen these guys pissed...only running away with tail between their.. ;-)

See the two in my Avatar to the left...those were at Ewa Pinnacles...VblueV took the pic. Blue named most of the popular sites for whitetips. Also see them regularly to the left of 3 tables and in sharks cove.

Kinda funny we don't see them much around Waianae area...once or twice. I saw one last weekend at Twin Caves...dive site just past the Mahi. Also seen them a while back around Makaha Caverns.

Near Ewa pinnacles are other dives sites that we see them regularly...Diner...shark city...etc

Also seen a few at Turtle Canyon just off Hale Koa resort off Waikiki

 

[klavdivs]

They like the caves west of Makena Landing in Maui. There are usually a handful mixed in with the sleeping turtles. I am not sure how "natural" they are as it is an area frequented by snorkelers and scuba divers. What kind of behaviors are you researching? Can others contribute?

 

[catalina_mike]

Just saw one yesterday by Makina??. Bad picture sorry, had a shot of it with a hook in its mouth, repositioned, it moved and stirred up the water. Took the shot anyway.

 

[smellzlikefish]

BC- my thoughts exactly. Unlike the gray reef sharks at Eniewetok, whitetips don't seem to show any kind of aggression, but seem to prefer to swim off and seek shelter in another cave. There are a few disturbance behaviors I am looking at in more detail, but I have never felt the least bit threatened by these guys. One of the researchers at Coconut who studies blacktips thinks whitetips are closer related to cats than sharks. Makes sense. Like Wainae, there don't seem to be too many hot spots off Kona, either. Some habitats are just not right for them, I guess. I'd love to hit Ewa Pinnacles and Twin Caves, but those one hell of a swim. I'd love a PM if you ever have room on your boat.

Klav- I never really thought about other contributing. I suppose if you have video you want to send me, I won't deny it. Videos are pretty large files for attaching to email, but if you have something, PM me and I'll give you my email.

If you have pictures, go ahead and send them to whitetip@hawaii.edu. That will get them to my former adviser who is using photo-identification to study their movements. Even if you think he has probably seen the shark before or that the picture is too crappy in quality, send it anyway, because resightings are crucial to his statistical analysis and he's not National Geographic.

 

[fishb0y]

So is your former adviser Nick? I convinced him to give a pretty entertaining presentation at my old dive club.

 

[ChimChim75]

I've seen that hooked guy at the caves at E Beach.