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I would be quite surprised if it was a nurse shark. I've never seen one in our waters even during intense El Ninos and other warm water events. However, I've never seen a tiger shark here either and there was a verified sighting of two of them a few years ago at Hen Rock.
Hi Dr. Bill,
Just curious if you know of any other shark species in our waters that we might have mistaken for the nurse shark.
“Sharks are critically important members of the marine food chain. If we destroy them for short-term gain, we risk the biggest long-term loss imaginable: complete destruction of the ecosystem and, ultimately, of ourselves”. -Peter Benchley, Author of Jaws.
Dr.Bill, wow! That's a long time.1969 happens to be the year that I got here,too(my birth year). Ha-Ha! Thanks for your response.I would like to have the opportunity to meet you and even dive with you if you have any interest.I am sure that you have seen a lot of change in the ocean/island in your 39 years there.Have a good one& good diving. Jamie
yeah, I never heard of a nurse shark in CA, I don't think they have ever been reported here.
phil - the max size ever reported for a swell shark is 3 1/2ft! although I think I saw one once in a cave that was 4ft.. anyways, they say things look bigger underwater!
My Internet has been down for 24 hours. I was thinking it might be a swell shark, although I've never seen one as large as 6 feet out here.
Yep, Beachlover... my first Catalina dive was Aug 24, 1969, at Arrow Point off the Goulden Doubloon. The school boat picked me up off that dive boat.
I rarely dive the park since I'm usually on Scuba Luv's King Neptune. I generally don't dive with buddies due to my focus on filming. However, I really enjoy socializing with other divers during my surface intervals.
Did dive the park today. Vis was a "foggy" 15-30 ft. The introduced Sargassum filicinum is starting to die off, releasing what probably are spores as well as its decay products.
If the Charter Boat was the DnDII, (Dive Connections Inc.), the Captain's name is Mark, he does Wreck Alley alot. He is very friendly and would have had the divers look for your missing item. Feel free to call him on 16
yeah, I never heard of a nurse shark in CA, I don't think they have ever been reported here.
Thanks!
There were actually a few divers at the fill station that had seen nurse sharks around Catalina as well (we were talking about it the morning after the dive).
The instructor, my cousin, and my wife saw a swell shark on the dive as well as the nurse and horn sharks we saw. I didn't see the swell shark though.
“Sharks are critically important members of the marine food chain. If we destroy them for short-term gain, we risk the biggest long-term loss imaginable: complete destruction of the ecosystem and, ultimately, of ourselves”. -Peter Benchley, Author of Jaws.
I have had several divers on the King Neptune comment on seeing nurse sharks in our waters. However, since I was diving the same sites, and often saw the same sharks, I could verify that they were adult horn sharks rather than nurse sharks. On one occasion it was a leopard shark.
I'm not aware of a single verified record of a nurse shark in our waters.
This reminds me of a day I spent diving in the park with excellent visibility (perhaps 70-80 ft). I was pursuing a large giant sea bass, filming with my camera. It started to head towards a group of three divers at the Sujac end of the park. I figured I'd stop the pursuit and maybe the bass would slow down and give the three divers a thrill.
A while later I was getting out of my gear at the wall when three divers came rushing up yelling at me. "Why did you chase that large shark towards us?" Need I say more?
I'll just toss this in. Maybe a blue shark? Years ago these sharks were quite plentiful around Catalina. Although I have not seen one in years, maybe they are making a come back?
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Originally Posted by drbill
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