This is a good thing as they are considered the grumpiest of sharks. Local fishermen claim that they are in the deep water off the south tip of Racha Noi however there has yet to be any firm proof in the scuba diving industry. However sadly, the evidence that they are still around keeps showing up at the local fish markets.
Small hammerheads are often presented at the local markets and one would think that they are bycatch caught in fishing nets. Posted in Marine Life on June 24, This can be with any stroke. You also have to be able to tread water or float for at least 10 minutes. The reason for this is not for the fact that scuba diving requires you to swim.
But rather it is for your and your groups safety. This is for a very good reason, it involves your safety. The requirement or need to do a refresher should not purely be based on time alone. The ability and confidence of the diver involved should also be taken into account.
With the advancement of the digital age and awesome new underwater cameras, underwater photography has become affordable and is not that difficult to do. Underwater Photography is rewarding and at times can also be profitable. More and more underwater photography competitions are being won by people using compact digital cameras. They can also be seen swimming in open water during the day, but they will keep their distance from divers, and swim away if followed.
Whitetip reef sharks - Johan Folmeus. This is a small but beautiful shark that has the shape of many larger species. The Blacktip Reef Shark grows to over 1. It hunts mainly at dawn and dusk, and often in very shallow water. It can even be seen by patient snorkellers at depth of less than two metres.
However, these are very shy sharks, and they nearly always keep their distance from humans and often swim away. Blacktip Reef Sharks should not be confused with Blacktip Sharks, which are larger but not found in Thailand. Blacktip Reef Shark. This is also referred to as the Shovelnose Ray by some people. Its names refer to its shape, which is similar to a guitar if viewed from above due to its large flat pectoral and pelvic fins.
Plus it has a long flat snout. Guitar sharks are dark grey in colour and grow to more than two metres in length. The adults are more-commonly seen in deeper water, and quite shy. Their diet consists mainly of crabs and prawns.
Juveniles have some contrasting markings, but the adults are all brown. Their dorsal fins are equal in size, and smaller than their pelvic fins. They have barbels, like whiskers. Bamboo Sharks are nocturnal bottom feeders that eat invertebrates, such as crabs. Therefore, during the daytime, divers in Thailand can often find them resting under rocks, alone or in small groups.
Divers normally only see parts of each shark, because they are small and can hide well. The Nurse Shark gets its name from its ability to suck prey into its mouth like a nursing baby drinking milk.
It is a large shark, growing to more than three metres in length. It also has barbels around its mouth, used to locate prey in the sand. Nurse Sharks are commonly found in public aquariums, due to their size, docile nature and good survival in captivity. They are tolerant of divers, simply because they prefer to conserve energy during the day and their large size means that they rarely feel threatened by humans. However, like all marine life, divers must show them respect, and therefore not get too close.
Like the Bamboo Shark, the Nurse Shark is usually a nocturnal hunter, feeding on crustaceans and cephalopods. During the day they often return to one of a few areas where they rest on the bottom, under a ledge or rock. In areas where they are abundant, sometimes six or more sharks rest together. However, in Thailand these sharks are no longer common, so they are normally only seen one at a time. They are usually seen deeper than 20 metres in The Gulf of Thailand and the west coast.
Nurse Shark. This species of shark is probably the most dangerous to humans. The reasons are mainly that they can survive in many more environments than other large and sometimes-dangerous species.
The last seems to have been in , when a German diver named Stephan Kahl emerged from the waters around Phang Nga Islands with severe bites and blood loss.
Though no shark was ever identified in the wake of his death, the bites indicate he may have been killed by a Tiger shark. German embassy officials were unable to provide further details of the case. Local residents said the man might have been bitten by a brindle bass rather than a shark, but fisheries experts said these fish had never been known to attack people. The brindle bass can weigh up to kilos, but is thought to venture out of undersea caves very rarely.
In , a pirate attack on a boat in southern Thailand left one survivor, who reported that an unlucky soul who had fallen off the boat had been eaten by a shark. The body was never recovered, but the incident was documented in the report below:. Source: Sharkattackfile. Though fatal shark bites are few and in between, there have been instances of sharks biting swimmers, divers, and fisherman. She told us that she was playing in the waves where the water is about one meter deep and that suddenly she felt something biting her foot.
She says it was a strong bite, and then a second strong bite with a bit more shaking. The animal must have had rows of triangularly shaped teeth side by side laterally, with a wide base because the clear teeth marks on the bottom of the foot were wide on the skin, deep and also side by side.
The only animal that could have caused this bite, given all the information, is a small shark. The location of the incident, shallow, murky water with a sandy bottom, is the habitat of one such species, the bull shark.
The beaches of Thailand are still very, very, very safe from any shark attack. In , a foot shark is said to have bitten the legs of a fisherman who fell off a banana boat in at Laem Mae Pim Beach in Rayong Province. The species was never confirmed, but sighted to be 3m in length. In , a 28 year-old Thai native named Vinit Tantikarnwas said to be bitten, though due to poor record taking, the geographic location of the bite is unknown.
Perhaps the low number of shark bites and deaths in Thailand can be attributed to the vigilance of local villagers, as unfortunate tourist David Smith found in early Smith, on a vacation to Pattaya with friends, decided to don a fake shark fin to scare his swimming companions.
He was almost immediately hit by nine harpoons from local fisherman. We never even saw David or his fin approaching. We just saw a bunch of fishing boats hurrying past us and firing dozens of harpoons. The first question on the mind of someone with a shark phobia visiting Thailand is whether or not they will encounter a Great White Shark, just like the one depicted in the Jaws movie I referenced at the start of this post. You can sigh a sign of relief now, though. Even those diving in Thailand will not see a Great White Shark because they are not known to exist in Thai waters.
The shark was caught by local fisherman and dragged on board. The report read:. Two human arms fell out from the mouth of the shark, along with some trash. The arms still had some bits of decomposed flesh attached and gave off a foul smell. When the trawler returned to port it was surrounded by curious locals. Police directed the crew to steer the ship out to sea again, where they slit open the shark's belly but found no other bones inside.
The carcass was then thrown back into sea. I am not a great white shark expert, but I am pretty confident that great white sharks have never been seen in Thai waters.
You can go cage diving with great white sharks in South Australia — see my Great White Shark article for Asian Diver magazine and my interview with great white shark survivor Rodney Fox.
There have been reports of great whites seen as far up the Australian coast as Townsville — which is Great Barrier Reef territory — and also around Ningaloo Reef half way up the west coast of Australia, so whites clearly move around in warmer waters too.
In June John Ford was fatally attacked by a great white shark while scuba diving with his newly wed wife in Byron Bay. So definitely exercise caution in the water in Australia.
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