Oceanic Whitetip: The Shipwreck Shark

Floating ship-wreck survivors of the Second World War met them by the hundred. Theirs and other survivor accounts soon vilified the Oceanic white-tip as a ruthless killer. As far as humankind is concerned, the story of the white-tip starts with these ship wrecks, but now it’s about to resolve in a very different way. Once there were thousands of these sharks terrorizing shipwreck survivors, but today, the ocean is almost devoid of them.

The question remains - just how do these large sharks find enough food to survive? To get closer to the answer, Yannis plans to tag the Oceanic White-tip. By tracking the sharks and fixing a camera tag to the dorsal fin he will be able to get a clearer picture of how it hunts and feeds.

The data he receives is intriguing; characteristically, the Oceanic white-tips spend all their time within 300 feet of the surface but, according to this new data, they sporadically execute extremely deep dives as well – some of them close to 3000 feet! Marine biologists suspect that these massive deep dives coincide with dives by pilot whales – to feed on schools of squid.

Could the crafty white-tips be following the pilot whales? Using their advanced sonar and ability to locate shoals of squid - to get a free meal? The proof of this theory will be revealed by the camera tags. It’s a game of patience - Yannis will have to wait and see!