Check out this Shark by clicking on the pics.
It was brought up and photographed when jigging for Pakapaka, a prized deepwater Snapper (likely Etelis coruscans) on a seamount in 1,000m of water off the island of Kadavu in Fiji.
My knee-jerk reaction when hearing the story was "Silky!" (C. falciformis) - but upon seeing the picture, the first dorsal seems just a bit high for it to be that species.
Never having personally seen a Bronzie (C. brachyurus) but having heard about numerous, albeit always unconfirmed "sightings" in Fiji, I was hoping that this could be the first confirmed record of that species for that country.
And yet - that caudal keel continues to irritate me!
The only Carcharhinid Shark with a pronounced caudal keel I've seen is the Tiger, clearly not the Shark in question.
So, quite frankly, I don't have the faintest clue!
Having contacted the "experts", the only educated guess so far is Bignose Shark (C. altimus), this yet again with a question mark. To me, the alignment of the free rear of the pec with the first dorsal look wrong - but who am I to say...
Anybody out there who knows?
It was brought up and photographed when jigging for Pakapaka, a prized deepwater Snapper (likely Etelis coruscans) on a seamount in 1,000m of water off the island of Kadavu in Fiji.
My knee-jerk reaction when hearing the story was "Silky!" (C. falciformis) - but upon seeing the picture, the first dorsal seems just a bit high for it to be that species.
Never having personally seen a Bronzie (C. brachyurus) but having heard about numerous, albeit always unconfirmed "sightings" in Fiji, I was hoping that this could be the first confirmed record of that species for that country.
And yet - that caudal keel continues to irritate me!
The only Carcharhinid Shark with a pronounced caudal keel I've seen is the Tiger, clearly not the Shark in question.
So, quite frankly, I don't have the faintest clue!
Having contacted the "experts", the only educated guess so far is Bignose Shark (C. altimus), this yet again with a question mark. To me, the alignment of the free rear of the pec with the first dorsal look wrong - but who am I to say...
Anybody out there who knows?
