The cloud whale – obviously a sperm whale, one observer noted – was photographed by researcher Alisa Schulman-Janiger five years ago and shared in July as a Facebook memory.
Reads one of the comments: “Gifted to you by the sky spirits who appreciate your work for the great citizens of the seas.”
–Top image courtesy of the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy
Shark movies. They’re awesome. Let’s pick out 5 great ones.
Sharks are awesome unless you encounter one in a movie.
While sitting on your couch and watching Shark Week might not give you any sort of frights, coming face-to-face with a big, hungry set of jaws is the stuff that movies are for.
Whether you want to watch a movie about a shark attack or just see a big, cartoon shark talk with an Australian accent, there are plenty of options out there for you to check out that will get you in a shark-y mood.
However, don’t settle for one of those subpar Sharknado movies. We’ve picked out five movies with sharks in them that won’t make you feel like you’re artistically compromising your evening movie time.
Just, y’know, make sure you’ve got plenty of shark repellant while you read this, and make sure you’ve got a big-enough boat.
So with all of that in mind, we decided to put together some incredible photos we found of sharks throughout the years. Check out the snaps of them below:
The sighting Friday of three great white sharks off Black’s Beach in San Diego provides strong evidence that perhaps dozens of juvenile sharks are still utilizing the area between Black’s and Del Mar.
The sighting Friday of three great white sharks off Black’s Beach in San Diego illustrates that several juvenile sharks are still utilizing coastal waters between Black’s and Del Mar.
In the middle of this area is Torrey Pines State Beach, which contains bluff-top trails from which sharks can be spotted when conditions are right.
Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve and State Beach is known for its sweeping views of the Pacific. Migrating whales are sometimes spotted in the distance.
But these days great white sharks are a premier attraction for some hikers at the reserve near San Diego. Dozens of juvenile white sharks have spent the summer and early fall off Torrey Pines and Del Mar, just to the north.
The sharks have been feeding on stingrays and other bottom fishes, keeping a fairly low profile until recently.
Anglers began to hook them and on Oct. 30 the carcass of an 8-foot white shark was discovered on the shore at Torrey Pines. The shark died as a result of fishing activity. (White sharks are protected and targeting them while fishing is illegal.)
On Nov. 4, a distance swimmer was bitten by a shark off Del Mar and hospitalized. Lyn Jutronich told NBC San Diego that the shark shook briefly before releasing its grip. Jutronich was hospitalized and treated for puncture wounds to her right thigh.
The type of shark was not confirmed, but it was presumed to be a juvenile white shark.
On Nov. 6, the Torrey Pines reserve posted a Facebook image of a white shark in a wave.
The Facebook post advertised the presence of sharks and listed spots from which they might be seen: Yucca Point, Razor Point and the Guy Fleming overlooks.
“For best results, plan your trip before 11 a.m. and during high tide,” the Torrey Pines reserve advised. “Sunglasses with polarized lenses and binoculars both also help.”
To be sure, the temporary white shark aggregation site at Torrey Pines is substantial.
Chris Lowe, director of the Shark Lab at California State University Long Beach, told FTW Outdoors that several white sharks tagged off Southern California in recent years are in the area.
“We’ve detected 31 tagged juvenile white sharks (in the last month) out the 62 tagged at Solana Beach, Del Mar and Torrey Pines over the last three years,” Lowe said. “We’ve seen up to 12 sharks in a single drone video frame at Torrey Pines in the last few months.
“This is now the largest aggregation since the Santa Barbara aggregation has broken down.”
It’s not clear how long the sharks will remain in the area.
A tagged great white shark nicknamed Tough Guy has shown up at Mavericks, a renowned big-wave surf spot near Half Moon Bay, Ca.
A tagged great white shark nicknamed Tough Guy has shown up at Mavericks, a renowned big-wave surf spot near Half Moon Bay, Ca.
“Tough Guy is lurking in the lineup at Mavericks! Tell your friends who surf this break,” Michael Domeier, who runs the Marine Conservation Science Institute, cautioned followers Wednesday via Instagram.
Mavericks is an offshore break that attracts surfers from around the world, primarily during the winter when north swells deliver massive waves.
Reads one of the comments beneath Domeier’s post:
“Confirmation that not only does Mavericks get insanely large [during] gargantuan swells. It also gets insanely large White Sharks. Making it the most dangerous place to surf on the planet when these two factors are in play.”
–Generic white shark image courtesy of Michael Domeier/MCSI
Many movies cast sharks in a negative light. “Jaws,” we’re looking at you. But despite all the bad press these animals get, they’re not actually all that dangerous to humans. In fact, the Australian Institute of Marine Science reports that there are only about 10 shark attacks worldwide every year. Meanwhile, human fishing practices have killed millions of sharks.
Learning facts like these can change the way you look at sharks. Like snakes and other often-feared animals, sharks may seem less frightening once you know more about them. Start your learning journey with this list of cool shark facts.
Do you want to swim with a 40-foot-long endangered fish that weighs 11 tons? Lots of people do, making whale shark tourism popular in places like western Australia, Thailand, Indonesia, and the Philippines. In North America, La Paz, Mexico, is the place to swim with these enormous creatures.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species lists the whale shark as “vulnerable to extinction.” Their biggest threat is human activity. While hunting is the biggest problem, conservationists are also watching the steep rise in wildlife tourism.
In February, La Paz, a city of 250,000 on the Baja Peninsula, suspended whale shark tours in the Bay of La Paz because of a sudden drop in sightings. After about six weeks — which is long in tourism time and dollars — local authorities decided tours could resume.
Photo courtesy of FITUPAZ
Outdoors Wire talked to Ximena Vega, a tourist guide at Red Travel Mexico, to find out what was going on with the suspension and how people monitor whale sharks and decide on safe levels of human interaction.
“The whale shark population in La Paz Bay is monitored mainly by the National Commission of Natural Protected Areas (CONANP), but it involves environmental authorities, tourism service providers, the scientific community, and NGOs,” Vega said.
Twice a week, boats go out to established areas 700 meters from the coast and “report on the number of sharks sighted, the sighting sites, the average size of the specimens and their behavior, as well as weather conditions,” Vega said. “This pause in whale shark activities is one of the measures we take to protect the population. When five or fewer of the species are seen within a defined area, these activities are suspended.”
Photo courtesy of FITUPAZ
The Bay of La Paz is a protected area where the number of boats allowed is strictly limited. “Only one boat is allowed per whale shark, and there can be a maximum of only 14 boats per shift,” Vega said. All boats are monitored via GPS, must stay within a defined area, and comply with strict speed limits.
Whale sharks prefer warm water temperatures above 72 degrees. These filter feeders mostly swim at the ocean’s surface, which makes them vulnerable to boat strikes, fishing mishaps, plastic ingestion, and tourism. Each whale shark has a unique spot pattern akin to human fingerprints. This is super convenient for researchers tracking the endangered species.
If you decide to swim with whale sharks in La Paz or elsewhere, enter the water slowly and stay at least a meter away. Don’t touch the sharks, and — it should go without saying, but some yahoos need to be told — do not attempt to ride the shark. Show some respect for the world’s largest fish.
An angler in Perth, Australia, caught and released a 10-foot bull shark Wednesday about a mile from the site of a recent fatal shark attack on a jet skier.
An angler in Western Australia has caught and released a 10-foot bull shark near the site of a recent fatal shark attack on a jet skier.
Kai Boyle, 21, posted images to social media showing him posing with the “Swan River Bull Shark” he landed late Wednesday at the East Fremantle boat ramp.
After the catch, Boyle shoved the shark into the river and watched it swim away. He stated on Facebook that an earlier post had been “taken down for abuse, but why not let people know what’s in the Swan River?”
Last Saturday, Stella Berry, 16, was fatally attacked at Fremantle after jumping into the river from her jet ski. Boyle’s catch occurred about a mile from that location.
According to 9News, Boyle’s catch and a confirmed shark sighting on Thursday prompted a search for the shark. News Perth tweeted that beaches along the Swan River “are in the process of being closed.”
A teen has reeled in a monster 2.5m bull shark from the Swan River last night, just days after a fatal attack in the same area.
Bull sharks, found in tropical and subtropical waters around the world, can be found in saltwater and freshwater.
According to the International Shark Attack File, bull sharks are responsible for at least 100 unprovoked attacks on humans, including 27 fatal attacks.
“It is considered by many to be the most dangerous shark in the world. It’s large size, proclivity for freshwater, abundance and proximity to human populations, particularly in the tropics, makes it more of a potential threat than is either the white shark or the tiger shark.”
Experts have identified the shark as a porbeagle, a species similar in appearance to great white sharks. Porbeagle sharks can measure 12 feet and weigh about 500 pounds.
Despite the timing of the stranding, the recent cold spell likely had nothing to do with the death of the shark. (The air temperature was 10 degrees when Medeiros snapped the photo.)
As Cape Wide News reported, the image reveals a severe injury on the shark’s side.
John Chisholm, a Massachusetts-based shark researcher, tweeted that he was “pretty sure this is one that originally washed up last week and has been moving around with the big tides.”
Chisholm alluded to other mysterious porbeagle shark standings that occurred earlier this winter. “Unlike the others, this one is a male,” Chisholm added.
Medeiros told FTW Outdoors that as of Sunday morning nobody had arrived to collect the carcass. “It’s still there, stinky now, and people have taken its teeth,” she said.
