Bull Sharks, Thailand!

 Source.

Robin alerts me that the Bull Sharks may be back!

This is really good news.

Last time we spoke, there was a suspicion that those juvenile Bulls had been chased away from Chumphon by over-zealous divers - but then again, they may have simply become larger and left what appears to be their nursery area. 

Here they are in a great video from 2009.

Now, some Bulls are being seen at a nearby site. 

Below is the video of one of those encounters, and it very much looks like those are adults - maybe merely visiting in order to give birth to a new generation?

No I'm not going to reveal the exact location.
But if you want to encounter them, drop a mail to Sail Rock Divers on Koh Phangan (site of the infamous full moon parties), and they may take you there for a peek - hopefully without disturbing the animals!
The Bull Shark sequence starts at 04:25.

Enjoy!

Chumphon Pinnacle - the Video!

Juvenile Bull Shark at Chumphon Pinnacle. Source.

This is as unequivocal as it gets!
Forget the debate: the Sharks at 02:08 ff are most certainly not Grey Reefs!

I've also perused the paper by Juerg that states
The Chumphon Pinnacle sharks are most similar in external morphology to the bull shark and the pigeye shark (Carcharhinus amboinensis). From the latter, the bull shark differs in its lower, less erect first dorsal fin and higher, more erect second dorsal fin. Furthermore, the ratio of first:second dorsal height is 3:1 or less in Carcharhinus leucas, but over 3:1 in C. amboinensis.
Case closed.

Anyway, enjoy the video - very nice!



H/T: Robin!

Bad News from Chumphon Pinnacle!

That was then - likely a juvenile Bull Shark on Chumphon Pinnacle

Remember the pink website of Robin and Richard?

Alas, this may well be a thing of the past.
I just stumbled across this depressing blog post informing us that the Sharks have basically disappeared. I've never dived there but learn that Chumphon Pinnacle was one of the Gulf of Thailand's best dive sites, with the regular sighting of those Sharks being the big drawing card. Now the apparently still ongoing debate about the species will never be resolved - although I assert that the animals depicted are certainly not (!) Grey Reefs but very likely juvenile Bulls or alternatively, the very similar Pigeye Sharks that feature equally broad and slightly falcate first dorsal fins.

All very sad and alas, so very typical. :(
Or may it be as trivial as the Sharks having gone somewhere else due to the increased popularity and thus, the increased disturbance by divers?

Bull Sharks in Thailand!

Ever heard of Chumphon Pinnacle?

Me neither, until a very pink website announced that it was Thailand's new hotspot for Bull Sharks.

I must admit that at first glance, I was rather skeptical.
The first pics showed smallish Sharks with a very distinct dark rim to their tail fin, something that I had never seen in Fiji. Bull Sharks have a closely allied species, the Java or Pigeye Shark (Carcharhinus amboinensis) and my gut feeling was that it could be that species, which would have been a great find in its own right.

As more and more images began populating the site, I however started seeing Sharks that were very much the same as our own sub-adults. Must be that the "rimmed" Sharks were either smaller than even our smallest animals, or that they were displaying some typical Thai color pattern, not at all impossible per se. We know that from Grey Reefies where local populations have a white rim on the first dorsal fin, prompting some splitters to try and describe them as an own species (which they are not).

Having alerted "our" expert Juerg, he confirms the original diagnosis.

Kudos to DJL (yes: Davy Jones' Locker, of all things...) on Koh Tao for their find and correct identification of the Sharks.

By the way: that would be just down the road from Ko Pha Ngan's Full Moon Party and just around the corner from The Beach - epic!