Sand tiger shark habits

[Twoblues]

Is there a marine biologist out in Scuba board cyber land who can answer the question: Why do these sharks gather on the Hyde off Wilmington?

 

[Steve_C]

Is there a marine biologist out in Scuba board cyber land who can answer the question: Why do these sharks gather on the Hyde off Wilmington?

I have seen many sand tigers at the Hyde but I think you are asking the wrong question. You will see sand tigers at many of the NC wrecks along the coast. Perhaps a better question is why they congregate near wrecks along the NC coast.

They appear to move offshore further during the winter when the inshore temp will be colder than that further out due to the gulf stream.

You will also sometimes see other sharks such as sand bars for example. Those I always see outside of the wreck. It is quite common to see sand tigers also inside the wrecks in large rooms or ship holds. So perhaps during the day, when they are not feeding, they like the security. Or maybe it is just that the wrecks also attract lots of bait.

Picture below was shot on the hyde.

 

[drbill]

My guess (not having dived with sand tigers or in that part of the country) is that the wrecks draw fish due to the added structure to the environment... and the fish draw sharks to munch on them!

 

[tursiops]

My guess (not having dived with sand tigers or in that part of the country) is that the wrecks draw fish due to the added structure to the environment... and the fish draw sharks to munch on them!

I agree. I remember one dive on the Proteus off NC where I counted 60+ sand tigers circling, and so did my buddy. But we were back-to-back and he was facing the other way...

 

[hroark2112]

The Hyde gets lots of divers. Sharks think we're tasty...so they hang out & wait for us!



If you want to see lots of sharks, hit the Spar. Always have seen a bunch out there once the water warms up!

 

[Twoblues]

Reminds me of a picture shown to me by another diver on a boat off New Providence of his swimming buddy with a Barracuda following the buddy's yellow fins!

 

[tomfcrist]

Hyde, Spar, Papoose, Aeolus etc...You will find large concentrations of SandTigers on pretty much all of the offshore wrecks during the warm months. As stated before, the tend to move to the far offshore wrecks in the cold months. They are thee because they are residents, no different than the baitfish and the amberjacks.

I have been on October/November dives where they literally were congregating in the hundreds on each wreck, right before they get scarce for the winter....don't really know what that is all about, but I will assume it has to do with their genitals.

 

[drrich2]

Wonder why then we don't see them congregating further south, like wrecks from Jupiter (Esso Bonaire) down to the Florida Keys (e.g.: Spiegel Grove)? There are deep wrecks with fish on them...

Richard.

 

[HalcyonDaze]

Wonder why then we don't see them congregating further south, like wrecks from Jupiter (Esso Bonaire) down to the Florida Keys (e.g.: Spiegel Grove)? There are deep wrecks with fish on them...

Richard.

I've heard anecdotes that they used to turn up in numbers off Jupiter as recently as 50 years ago or so. Not sure why that doesn't happen anymore, aside from perhaps population declines. Sandtigers are slow growers and slow breeders; given their "ferocious" looks and rather sluggish behavior they were attractive targets for any macho wannabe with a bangstick back in the day. The Australians really hit theirs hard and the numbers there still haven't come back to what they once were. I imagine they weren't as heavily culled off of NC; the wrecks are much farther offshore and King Neptune is a bit more demanding.

 

[AfterDark]

Sharks, animals in general are driven usually by two things, food and mating. So they are either looking for a bite to eat or a good looking shark!

Those wrecks are like mini reefs and where do most sharks congregate? Reefs.