Shark ID assistance requested

[alijtaylor]

Hi
I have just come back from a great trip to Milne Bay in PNG on FeBrina (report here) and have a number of photos of shark action. I have both the following noted as whitetip reef sharks but they are clearly different - any suggestions?





Thanks

Alison

[tankajava]

I dove with a few white tip reefs on Okinawa and Guam. Those are great pics but maybe I'm just not seeing the differences you infer. Perhaps it is the camera angle but both the upper and lower pictures appear to be typical of white tip reefs I've seen. The body is slender although there may be a slight fusiform swell to the lower picture. Both sharks have the downward turned jaw beneath a flat snout. Both dorsal fins are close in size on both shots and there does not appear to be the silver to white tips on their pectoral fins as in silver tips and oceanic white tips (the oceanic white is also larger). If the color is throwing you off, white tip reefs are not uniform in their color shading but they usually range from grey to grey/brown on the dorsum sometimes with darker spots or blotches and fade to pale on the ventrum. The shark in the lower picture appears to have been caught by flash and may have its nictating mebrane closed as a protective reaction to for its eyes. There also seems to be small barbels present on the snouts of each. Gill slits are typical for this species of requiem shark. Can't see the ventrum to tell either's gender but the lower shot could be a female. Hope this helped a bit.

Sounds like you had a great trip to PNG. Take care and stay wet!!!


J

[Code Monkey]

I'm pretty sure the top one is a white tip reef shark and the bottom one is a silvertip shark.

[H2Andy]

i'm with tankajava

they booth look like whitetips to me ... they lack the silvertip's "white spot" on the lower caudal fin and the dorsal fins

but beware ... identifying sharks underwater is REALLY tough ... it takes a real expert

body coloration is not really the way to i.d. fish ... it can be rather variable ... also, the shark on the bottom picture is taken from a different angle, so his "head" is going to look different

[alcina]

I think they are simply different angles of white tip reef sharks.

I believe that silvertips usually have white on dorsal, pec and tail fins. I also think I remember that their second dorsal fins are shorter/smaller.

Here's a Silvertip link...and the same site for Whitetips

[proffumdiver]

they r deffinatly white tip reef sharks. without a doubt. however the pic at the top does look like its been hit on the head by a hammer (head) excuse the pun.

[alijtaylor]

Thanks for your comments. What made me think they were different was the area around the gills which looked quite different to me. I'm inclined to agree that they are both whitetips as it was the top one that I though was diffrent from the majority we saw, which I am pretty confident were whitetips.
Thanks again for your contributions.
Alison

[Hemlon]

Great pics, BTW!