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The Marine Reserve
Oceans cover 70 percent of the Earth’s surface. 

The sea is home to Earth's largest animal, the Blue Whale (Balaenoptera musculus), and also some of the smallest organisms to exist, such as microscopic plankton.

Having dived around the Island, I've been lucky enough to encounter a variety of creatures that live beneath the waves. Unfortunately, the underwater camera I have is very basic, the images do not do justice to the beauty of the animals I have seen.



Various Marine Life

Five Banded Snapper (Lutjanus quinquelineatus).
Coachman (Heniochus acuminatus).
Minke whale (Balaenoptera acutorostrata) surfacing between two Basking sharks (Cetorhinus maximus).
Emperor Angelfish ( Pomacanthus imperator).
Five Banded Snapper (Lutjanus quinquelineatus).
Geometric Moray eel (Gymnothorax griseus).
Honeycomb Moray eel (Gymnothorax favagineus).
Jenkin's Whiptail ray (Himantura Jenkinsii)
Lionfish (Pterois spp.)
Starfish spp? (Class: Asteroidea)
My dive buddy, Richie, with a Trapeze Angelfish (Pomacanthus rhomboides)
New Zealand Fur seal (Arctocephalus forsteri).
New Zealand Fur seal (Arctocephalus forsteri).
New Zealand Eagle ray ( Myliobatis tenuicaudatus).
Starfish spp? (Class: Asteroidea)
Spotfin Lionfish (Pterois antennata).
Trapeze Angelfish (Pomacanthus rhomboides)
White Spotted "Blaasop" (Arothron hispidus).
White Spotted Boxfish (Ostracion meleagri).
Yellow- edged moray eel (Gymnothorax flavimarginatus).
Manta ray (Manta birostris).

Commerson's Dolphins (Cephalorynchus commersonii)


Orca (Orcinus orca)


Sharks

My fascination with sharks began as a child when my Dad bought me a book about them, "Shark Attack" by H David Baldridge. I read it  from cover to cover, totally captivated. When I'd finished, I reread the entire book again, picking up on facts I'd missed or not quite understood the first time. That was the beginning of my obsession.

Over the next thirty years or so, I read everything I could get my hands on about these fish. I watched every documentary doing the rounds but nothing satisfied my curiosity about them.

One thing I did know, there was obviously much more to these persecuted, beautiful and delicate animals than what was being portrayed back in the mid 1970's.

Eventually, I landed my dream job, working alongside these fascinating fish. 
I followed my passion,
I lived the dream and dived with these so called "man eaters".

There are over 500 species of sharks in the world. I've only seen 28 in the wild. They are shy creatures, approximately 100 million are killed every year by humans. That's one every three seconds.

Sharks  are protected around Andy's Island. Jump in and see a few:



Whitetip Reef shark (Triaenodon obesus) Triaenodon = Tri "three" + odon ="teeth" The tricuspid teeth each have one large triangular cusp in the middle along with two smaller ones on either side.
Whitetip Reef shark (Triaenodon obesus). Max length @ 2m
Whitetip Reef shark (Triaenodon obesus). Can often be found resting on the sea bottom in caves and under ledges.
Whitetip Reef shark (Triaenodon obesus). Most active at night time.
Whitetip Reef shark (Triaenodon obesus). Viviparous (give birth to live young).
Silvertip shark (Carcharhinus albimarginatus). Carcharhinus is derived from the Greek "karcharos" meaning sharpen and "rhinos" meaning nose. albimarginatus from the Latin "albi" meaning white and "marginatus" meaning to enclose with a border.
Silvertip shark (Carcharhinus albimarginatus). Max length @ 3m.
Silvertip shark (Carcharhinus albimarginatus). I got buzzed by this shark. it may have been attracted to my grey hair waving about "fishlike" in the current.
Tawny Nurse shark (Nebrius ferrugineus). Nebrius from the Greek "nebris, -idos", meaning skin of a fawn. ferrugineus, from the Latin, referring to the brown coloration of this shark
Sharptooth Lemon shark (Negaprion acutidens). acutidens is from the Latin "acutus" meaning "sharp", and dens meaning "teeth"
Sharptooth Lemon shark (Negaprion acutidens). Max length @ 3.1m.
Bull shark (Carcharhinus leucus). These sharks can live for over 25 years in the wild.
Bull shark (Carcharhinus leucus). Max length @ 3.5m.
Bull shark (Carcharhinus leucus). A species known to frequent warm rivers and freshwater lakes.
Bull shark (Carcharhinus leucus). Pups are usually born in estuaries and river mouth.
Bull shark (Carcharhinus leucus). Known as the Zambezi shark in South Africa.
Bull shark (Carcharhinus leucus). Distributed worldwide in tropical and sub tropical seas.
Bull shark (Carcharhinus leucus). Diet consists of fishes, invertebrates, sea turtles, birds, dolphins and small sharks/rays.
Grey Reef shark (Carcharhinus amblyrhynchos). A fiesty shark, known to display exagerated swimming movements if it feels threatened.
Blacktip shark (Carcharhinus limbatus). "limbatus" from the Latin, meaning "bordered" in reference to the black markings on its fins.
Basking shark (Cetorhinus maximus). Cetorhinus from the Greek, "ketos" a marine monster/whale "rhinos" meaning nose. maximus from Latin, meaning "great."

Whale shark (Rhincodon typus)

Whilst living in Mozambique, I became a volunteer research assistant and eventually a guide on Ocean Safari's. Taking tourists out on a 5.8m RIB, we would look for whale sharks to snorkel with and photograph. The photo's I took were added to a database to help build up a picture of the migration patterns of these mighty fish.

On one occasion an 8m individual decided to empty it's bowels all over me while I was taking photo's. Being covered in the poo of the world's largest fish doesn't happen every day.

Rhincodon fom the Greek "rhyngchos" = rasp and "odous" = tooth. typus from the first specimen described as a "type" specimen.
Whale sharks are a totally harmless species of shark.
At work. The nutrient rich waters of the Mozambique Channel create an ideal feeding environment for Whale sharks.
The largest Whale shark on record measured an incredible 20m in length.
Ecotourism, if correctly done, can play an important part in Whale shark conservation and education.
The largest fish in the world, Whale sharks feed on microscopic plankton and small fishes.
In 1995, an 11m female Whale shark was harpooned off the eastern coast of Taiwan. 300 baby sharks ranging in length from 42 to 63cm, were taken from her two uteri.
Like all sharks, Whale sharks do possess teeth. About 300 in each jaw.
Like our fingerprints, Whale sharks have unique spot patterns which helps identify them.

Tiger shark (Galeocerdo cuvier)

These sharks have a bit of a bad reputation with the uneducated. I found them to be a very curious and cautious fish. if one came a little too close, a wave of the hand or any sudden movement would be enough to make them alter their course.

Galeocerdo from the ancient Greek, "γαλεος" (galeos) = Aristotle's shark and "κερδω" (kerdo) = the fox.
Max length @ 5.5m. One record of 7.4m.
Tiger shark pups are born between 51-76cm. Litters are large, between 10-82 pups.
Tiger sharks are found worldwide in tropical and temperate seas.
My dive buddy Justine, demonstrating the correct way to fend off a curious shark. No bazooka's, power heads or nuclear bombs required.
Tiger sharks only live up to 12 years in the wild.
The characteristic dark spots and stripes of a Tiger shark are most prominent in young sharks and fade as the shark matures.
The Tiger shark is the only species of its family that is ovoviviparous (giving birth to live young which have been nourished by yolk in the yolk-sacs). Blacktip sharks (Carcharhinus limbatus) in the background.
Tiger sharks are solitary hunters that feed primarily at night as the shark moves further inshore and closer to the surface.

White shark (Carcharodon carcharias)

Quite simply, the most incredible, beautiful, inquisitive, powerful, misunderstood shark that I have ever encountered.

Sunday November 1st 1992  was the day I saw my first White shark. In fact I saw four.  Having blagged my way onto a research vessel owned by The White Shark Research Unit (WSRU) in South Africa, I watched in awe as these huge fish circled the boat we were in.  A day etched in my memory forever. Luckily, I have a copy of the footage the Director of WSRU took that day, now transferred onto DVD.

Rather than satisfying my yearning to experience these creatures, it only served to fuel my passion.  My encounters with White sharks started from the deck of a boat, transferred to viewing them from a cage until, eventually, I had the privilege of meeting one face to face whilst scuba diving.


Carcharodon from the Greek "karcharos" = sharpen and "odous" = teeth. carcharias from Greek, means point or type of shark.
The largest recorded White shark measured 6.4m in length.
The White shark is an Apex Predator. Nothing predates on it, although there is a record of a White shark being attacked by an Orca (Orcinus orca).
White sharks have the ability to see clearly out of water. The action of raising their head out of the water to observe things is called Spy hopping.
White sharks do not have a nictitating membrane to protect their eyes. Instead, the eyeball can be totally rotated in the socket to protect it.
White sharks are extremely curious animals. They will investigate most foreign objects in the water.
Breaching is a method of predation the White shark will employ in certain parts of the world.
When breaching, the momentum of the shark will very often result in the animal totally leaving the water and performimg some amazing acrobatic twists and turns.
Breaching is a very exhaustive method of predation for the White shark. The energy gained from a successful predation must replace or be in excess of that used.
A foreign object (me) being examined by a large White shark.
White sharks possess both cones and rods in their eyes, enabling them to see in colour.
Small pores on the snout (Ampullae of Lorenzini) enable minute electrical impulses to be detected.
Meeting a white shark in its own environment.
The shark continually circled us, checking us out.
At about 3.5m, this male shark was simply investigating two monkeys dressed in rubber who had invaded its environment.
My dive buddy, Roger, filming this amazing animal (actual footage below).
We ended up on the sea floor as the shark circled us. Every time it came close, I simply raised my camera towards it, causing it to veer away.
After about 15 minutes of checking us out, the shark got bored and swam away. Not once did my dive buddy or I feel threatened by it.

White sharks migrating from Guadalupe Island

November 2015: exciting news from Andy's Island.
We had some visiting white sharks pitch up off the Island shore all the way from Isla de Guadalupe in the Pacific Ocean.
How do we know they were from Guadalupe? Well, we just know that kind of stuff.

Hope you like the photo's:






A Sad Tale (the story of a white sharks will to live)

One of the many, many fascinating aspects I find about white sharks is their will to live:

In 1968, an 8 foot male white shark was caught on hook and line near Sydney, Australia. The animal was played on the line for several hours before eventually, exhausted, it was landed.

Manly Marine World in Sydney had plans to put the poor creature on display in one of its aquariums.

The shark was dragged onto a beach, dumped into an unfiltered tank on the back of a pickup truck, driven over bumpy roads for 45 minutes, taken out of the water then hauled up several flights of stairs in a stretcher. Finally it was deposited in a shabbily constructed exhibit crammed with turtles, nurse sharks and an assortment of other fish. Most other sharks would have already died by this point, but this white shark had a will to live.

After 3 days in captivity, the shark began to feed, however, he refused to feed on the dead fish offered by the aquarium divers. Instead, he chose to eat his fellow tank mates.

Why not? He's a predator.

After a week of feeding on the snappers on display, the aquarium owners began to have concerns about the safety of their divers: it was time to let the shark go. Unfortunately, the aquarium was not equipped to extract a live, healthy juvenile white shark.

Their solution was to KILL IT.

Not wasting an opportunity, the aquarium sold tickets to the public to watch the event. The Australian Post newspaper ran the headline "The White Pointer Was Mad, It Had To Die Before It Emptied The Aquarium".

Ten days after the arrival of the hapless animal, a group of divers entered the aquarium armed with "bang sticks" (power heads usually tipped with 12 gauge shotgun cartridges).

In front of a sellout audience, the divers approached the shark and raised their bang sticks into position. It took 7.....that's SEVEN....bullets from the bang sticks to dispatch the animal.

After spiraling round and round for several minutes, the life of this juvenile shark ended at the bottom of an aquarium in front of a paying audience.



There are squillions of websites devoted to the subject of sharks, some good, some not so good. These are a few worth looking at for further information:

The Shark Trust            
The Florida Museum of Natural History                   Shark Research Committee
                     




“Sharks have everything a scientist dreams of. They're beautiful―God, how beautiful they are! They're like an impossibly perfect piece of machinery. They're as graceful as any bird. They're as mysterious as any animal on earth. No one knows for sure how long they live or what impulses―except for hunger―they respond to. There are more than two hundred and fifty species of shark, and everyone is different from every other one.”

Peter Benchley
Picture
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