Pete Thomas Outdoors

Photographer captures rare image of breaching sea snake

By Pete Thomas

A wildlife photographer this week shared a “super rare” photo showing a large sea snake breaching nearly clear of the surface at the Great Barrier Reef in the Coral Sea.

The eye-catching image caused some of Rachelle Mackintosh’s Instagram followers to look twice while trying to figure out precisely what they were seeing.

But Mackintosh assured in her description that it was an olive sea snake, a venomous reef predator that typically remains hidden by day, breaking the surface in what seemed a bizarre behavior.

Mackintosh, from Sydney, Australia, captured the image in June 2017. The snake measured 6-plus feet.

She was on a multi-day diving expedition at Ribbon Reefs, a remote section of the Great Barrier Reef known for its marine diversity and pristine waters, “to spend a few days swimming with dwarf minke whales.”

“One of the coolest things about them is that their vocalizations sound like Jedi light sabres in action,” Mackintosh joked. “They’re also very friendly and will hang out around the boat for hours on end.”

But for several moments, the olive sea snake stole the spotlight.

“The snake seemed to appear from nowhere and swam on the surface for a couple of seconds, when suddenly it started doing this weird little move where it would slightly lift its head, like it was looking for something,” Mackintosh recalled. “Then it did this full kind of lift out of the water and then splashed down and disappeared again.

“It was super surreal – and one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen.” Mackintosh said she was told by a researcher that the snake might have been trying to escape predation by sharks, or merely inspecting its surroundings, or simply engaging in playful behavior.

Olive sea snakes are common along Australia’s northern coast and throughout the Great Barrier Reef. They must surface to breathe but can remain submerged for up to two hours. They typically prey on small fish and crustaceans, primarily at night, and hide in reefs during the day.

While olive sea snakes are not aggressive toward humans, they will bite if threatened or harassed, and bites can be fatal.

–Images courtesy of Rachelle Mackintosh

Shark helps create ghostly image in school of salmon

By Pete Thomas

Ghost or Grinch? These are just two observations regarding an image captured via drone Friday off Australia’s Bondi Beach, just in time for Halloween.

The image, captured by Drone Shark App and shared via social media, shows two swimmers and what’s described as a grey nurse shark swimming through an immense school of salmon just yards from shore.

The swimmers parted the salmon in the form of two circular clearings, which appear as eyes in a ghost-like face, while the shark cleared an area that might be perceived as a mouth.

The salmon school was so dense that the swimmers and shark seemed oblivious to each other’s presence. The spooky image, therefore, was purely coincidental.

 “Do you see what I see?” Drone Shark App wrote on Facebook. “Tell me what you see?” “Ooooh, it looks like a ghost. Just in time for Halloween,” one commenter wrote. “Grinch,” stated another.

Nurse shark swims through salmon with swimmers nearby. Credit: Drone Shark App

But some comments pertained purely to the subjects. “I see two people who want to be eaten,” a follower chimed in.

Reads another comment: “More reasons to fearfully admire the beautiful ocean and only go in a few feet from shore.”

Schooling salmon are common off Sydney at this time of year, and the fish attract both swimmers and apex predators. In another Facebook post,

Drone Shark App shared the video footage from which the accompanying screen shot was pulled. It shows several swimmers near or within the salmon school, oblivious to two nurse sharks also swimming through the school.

The drone operator, when contacted by Pete Thomas Outdoors, asked only to be identified as Drone Shark App. The group’s social media pages are filled with photos of video clips showing sea life off Australia’s beaches.

Dolphins race along shoreline as beachgoers watch in awe

By Pete Thomas

A photographer in Western Australia has captured video footage showing four dolphins in a sprint down the beach a mere stone’s throw from shore.

A 100-meter dolphin dash, if you will. A marine mammal version of a horse race, with the inside lane seemingly producing a clear winner.

The remarkable footage was captured Wednesday at Yanchep Lagoon by Carly Sinden, who said the dolphins raised their heads collectively, as if announcing themselves, before launching their speedy exhibition.

“They were so inquisitive and friendly, and even swam around the school kids who were in the lagoon having their school swimming lesson,” Sinden, who specializes in newborn baby photography, told FTW Outdoors.

Sinden also captured a second clip showing the dolphins racing in the opposite direction, this time with people in the water. One wader was a mere inches from one of the friendly mammals, and didn’t flinch as it dashed past him.

Said Sinden: “It’s something I will never forget and makes me grateful to call this beautiful place home.”

Yanchep Lagoon, near Perth, is popular among swimmers and snorkelers, who apparently never know what they might see.

–Image and videos courtesy of Carly Sinden Photography

Humpback whale performs perfect cannonball, drenching astonished whale watchers

By Pete Thomas

A humpback whale performed its version of a cannonball Friday off Port Macquarie in New South Wales, Australia, breaching into the air and drenching astonished whale watchers.

The accompanying footage, captured by Tash Morgan for Port Jet Cruise Adventures, shows the whale’s up-close breach and spin, and water cascading over laughing spectators and the top of the vessel Wave Rider.

The whale quickly surfaces, as if to gauge its success, and passengers are left and in awe and with the memory of a lifetime.

–Image is a video screen grab

Great white hoax: Viral image showing diver 'taming' large shark is not what it seems

Viral shark image since pulled from Facebook

By Pete Thomas

An image showing a diver taming a great white shark with a gloved hand placed on the snout of the predator whipped up a social media frenzy over the weekend, as viewers debated the validity of the photograph.

There were no details regarding the image, other than this description on the Perth & WA Fishing Reports Facebook page: “My bro sent me this photo taken of a local diver near Augusta [Australia] pushing away this great white with his glove on the nose. When done right it temporarily sedates the shark. My face would be not as apparently calm.”

Was the image photoshopped? The shark looks inert. The shark looks dead. There’s not enough water movement for this to be real. Is the diver brave, or stupid?

These were some of the assumptions and allegations appearing on various comment threads as the image was shared thousands of times.

But the truth was revealed Monday by the West Australian, which reported that the shark was in fact a dead mako, not a great white.

It appears to have been a joke gone bad. The man who sent the image to Perth and WA Fishing Reports, and was listed as the photographer (Ben Chase), asked that the post be pulled, which it was early Monday.

Shark on the left is similar to the mako shark on the right. Comparison photo is via the West Australian

“It is not his image and was a bit of a joke with him and his friends that unfortunately went viral,” Perth and WA Fishing Reports told me.

The West Australian reports: “After some investigation, it was found out that the great white, far from being on the hunt of fresh meat and ready to claim his next meal, was in fact a dead 2.5m Mako shark.”

The investigation was based largely on a similar photograph sent to the newspaper last month, showing an abalone diver untangling line from a dead mako shark. The shark in both images (posted above) appear to be the same shark. Similar snout markings. Similar size. Almost definitely the same mako shark that apparently died after becoming entangled in fishing lines.

So the mystery appears to have been solved, the hoax revealed.

Writes Drew Scerbo, a shark advocate and an expert who has debunked other hoaxes in the past, on Facebook:

“Looks like we only had to wait 24 hours for our answers and most of us were correct. Dead shark (said to be a 2.5m mako) was being played with by some divers in order to make the appearance of being rescued or defended against, even though it had been deceased for several days.

“There will always be people trying to pull a fast one over on the public, trying to gain notoriety for something they never actually did. It never ends and it often involves sharks.

“Incredibly sad - for many reasons. It seems no magnificent ocean dweller can be safe from exploitation - even after death.”

Massive hammerhead shark, tiger shark caught from the beach

By Pete Thomas

Two Western Australian anglers gained notoriety this week after landing an enormous hammerhead shark and tiger shark from the beach.

Jethro Bonnitcha and Joshua Butterworth, of the Esperance area, released both sharks after posing for photos.

The hammerhead measured 13 feet 6 inches. The tiger shark was not measured but was at least 12 feet long, Butterworth said.

Bonnitcha was handling the rod during both marathon battles, and nearly collapsed from fatigue during the 2.5-hour fight with the hammerhead. Butterworth assisted with the precarious beach landings, and releases.

“You can’t catch sharks like that alone,” he said, via email.

The location was somewhere in “on the mid-west coast” and the lines were baited with large fish and delivered to reef channels.

Photos of both sharks first appeared Tuesday on the Rogue Offshore Facebook page, and were widely shared and publicized.

Butterworth addressed Internet criticism from those who do not appreciate sharks being posed for photos.

"We only bring them out long enough for a photo, and water is still going over their gills,” he said. “Then it's a bit dodgy, but you have to try and lift their pectoral fins and head up and drag them back into the water with a surge of a wave.”

Butterworth later added: “We swim them back out to deeper water and spend as much time as needed to get them swimming off strong, not just swimming off. We don’t have them on the sand for long.”

The Rogue Offshore post was shared more than 2,500 times.

–Photos: Joshua Butterworth (left) and Jethro Bonnitcha with the giant hammerhead; Bonnitcha with the tiger shark; Bonnitcha with the hammerhead; both anglers releasing the tiger shark. Photos courtesy of Joshua Butterworth

Whale shark visit inspires crewman to jump overboard and ride the docile critter

 

A whale shark recently decided to nudge and loiter around a charter boat for four-plus hours off Australia’s Northern Territory, so of course one of the crew was compelled to jump in and ride the critter.

The nighttime encounter occurred 100 miles west of Darwin, and at one point the whale shark, which was feeding with its mouth open, bumped into a 15-foot tender tied to the mother ship.

“He ain’t real smart. Lucky he’s pretty,” one of the men can be heard saying in the accompanying footage.

The boat was from Cannon Charters and the commentary is from Benny “the Bushman” Sambrooks, a guide who seems to be the person jumping in to swim briefly with the whale shark.

Whale sharks are the world’s largest fish, reaching lengths of about 40 feet. They’re found in tropical seas around the world, but their migration patterns remain mysterious.

Fortunately for Sambrooks, the sharks feed largely on plankton and are harmless to humans.

 

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Great white shark attacks smaller white shark: rare footage

By Pete Thomas/GrindTv

A passenger on a shark-diving expedition off South Australia has captured rare footage of a large great white shark attacking a smaller white shark.

It remains unclear, however, whether that was the larger shark’s intention, at least initially, or whether it had merely been going after the bait when the smaller shark, after making a pass at the bait, got in its way. (See video atop this post.)

The fate of the smaller shark also remains unclear. Adam Malski, 33, was back on the boat at the time of the dramatic clash, which he captured on video.

The rare event also was witnessed by the captain and dive master near Neptune Island, 50 miles at sea.

The bait, presumably a large fish, had been tied to a rope and and set beyond the stern.

Cages are beneath the surface behind the stern, allowing divers to get up-close views of sharks as they're  lured in by the scent of the bait.

Malski told the U.K. Mirror: “The day where the shark attacked the other was surreal. I asked the dive master and skipper of the boat what would happen if a smaller shark got in the way of a larger shark. The skipper responded: ‘The big shark would take the smaller one down.’

“Literally six seconds later, that amazing scene was witnessed by me, the skipper and the dive master. They had never seen anything like it before.”

Images are video screen grabs

The footage was making the rounds Tuesday on Facebook, and shark experts were chiming in.

The Marine Science Conservation Institute, run by Michael Domeier, commented: “Very interesting white shark vs. white shark moment caught on film. We have seen violent aggression between adult white sharks at Guadalupe Island... not so sure this is what's happening in this clip. It looks like both shark were going for the same bait and ended up mouth-to-mouth. Didn't end so well for the little guy!”

Mexico’s Guadalupe Island is one of the world’s premier shark-diving destinations, in part because of the amazing water clarity.

I’ve been on two dives there and observed from topside larger sharks asserting their dominance as they and other sharks maneuver around the stern, investigating the area close to the bait.

Martin Graf of the company Shark Diver added: “From my observations, it is unusual for a much bigger shark to bite a much smaller one. Typically those bites happen between sharks of similar size. Most sharks under about 9ft. at Guadalupe are pretty clean (free of scars). The biggest number of bites (aside from mating bites) are on males from about 11-14 ft. long.”

Passengers on most shark-diving expeditions, wherever the location, typically emerge with an enhanced appreciation of the apex predators, after being able to see them up close and watch how gracefully, yet cautiously, they maneuver through their realm.

Said Malski: “I spent many hours observing them in their territory and up close and saw 18 magnificent creatures in total. All of which were inquisitive but not aggressive. "Even when one bumped my hand and camera when I was 20 meters underwater, there was no aggression–just inquisitiveness.”

Most adult white sharks have unique markings, or scars, and outfitters often give them names.

The large shark that attacked the smaller shark is named Gilbert.

Shark-killing drum lines removed in Western Australia, but for how long?

The three-month trial period for shark culling off Western Australia ended Wednesday, but controversy surrounding the program has not subsided.

Rather, it seems to have intensified, with not only environmental groups but local residents and marine groups speaking out against the practice of baiting and killing large sharks spotted in certain risk areas.

That’s because the government, according to a report in the Australian, has applied to the commonwealth to continue the program over a three-year period, beginning in November.

And because the highly contentious catch-and-kill program, which involves baited drum lines and the shooting of captured sharks, is perceived as cruel and ecologically unsound, and does not ensure safety.

Since January, more than 100 sharks were caught on drum lines, which were strategically placed near popular swimming and surfing beaches.

Many were released because they were smaller than the three-meter minimum size, but at least a few dozen sharks were killed, including smaller sharks that drowned after being hooked. In one case an 8-foot tiger shark was revived by conservationists after it was released from a large hook.

The WA government has not yet released official figures.

Most were tiger sharks, which are dangerous to swimmers, but no great white sharks were captured during the trial period.

White sharks are responsible for most fatal attacks on swimmers in Australia, and a spate of attacks by white sharks in recent years is what led to the shark-killing program.

The Australian quotes Premier Colin Barnett as labeling the trial period “a success.”

Regarding the planned resumption of the program, Barnett added: “Maybe there’ll be a fair bit of contention about that, but we have caught some very large sharks close to popular swimming areas.”

The problem with that reasoning is that just because a large shark near a popular beach does not mean it will attack a person. Any surfer knows that for every shark seen, many more in a given area may be present, but unseen.

Researchers Leah Gibbs and Andrew Warren conducted a survey of 557 Western Australia swimmers, surfers, and divers. They found that the vast majority are against the cull.

They went on to state that 69% of respondents had seen or experienced a close encounter with a shark while in the water. Most said that the shark passed without incident.

“In other words, the presence of sharks does not necessarily equate to danger to people,” stated the authors, who are preparing a report on their findings.

The majority of respondents favored other strategies, such as improving public education about sharks, encouraging ocean users to accept risks, and increasing warning systems.

In Perth, Western Australia’s capital, it’s clear how most residents feel.

Perth Now polled 5,600 readers and 86% of them agreed that baited drum lines should never be used again. Thirteen percent were in favor of the use of drum lines, and 1% had no opinion.

The Australian Marine Conservation Society also spoke out against the use of drum lines and said the of the deadly fishing gear on Wednesday should mark a permanent end to the program.

“At no state has the WA government provided evidence that killing sharks will improve public safety,” said the society’s Tooni Mahto.

Regarding the absence of great white sharks on the drum-line hooks, Barnett became defensive.

“With respect to great wehites they tend to be more prevalent during spring, early summer. We didn’t have drum lines in during that period.”

It remains to be seen whether that will happen, come November.

–Pete Thomas, via GrindTv Outdoor

–Generic tiger shark (top) and white shark photos are via Wikipedia

A green flash like no other you've seen; photographer captures stunning image in Western Australia

Many sunset watchers have witnessed the green flash. Sometimes it's vibrant and obvious, other times it’s subtle. (Yes, non-believers, green flashes do occur.)

Photos, in most cases, do not do the phenomenon justice. But Colin Legg, an astrophotographer from Western Australia, on Monday posted a stunning green flash image titled “Sun Pyramid” to his Facebook page.

The image shows the flash of green light on the sun’s upper rim as it set beyond the Rottnest Island lighthouse in Perth. Legg, who specializes in photographing the night sky, posted video of the same event on Wednesday (see video below).

“Some funky aberrations and distortions in this one,” Legg wrote on Monday. “We had nice seeing in Perth this evening, so I shot a video of the sun setting behind Rottnest Island lighthouse from Cottesloe beach. To avoid wind jitter, I setup at the local rugby tavern and asked the players to not kick in my direction. Pretty impressive view through 23 km of atmosphere.”

Green flashes occur only sporadically and very briefly at sunset, when part of the sun suddenly changes to blue or green.

According to a San Diego State University Web page devoted to the phenomenon, "Green flashes are by-products of the large variations in astronomical refraction near the horizon. Although there are several kinds of green flash, almost every kind is a by-product of a corresponding mirage."

Legg's video reveals multiple blue and green flashes during the final stages of sunset. He was using a Canon 5D Mark II and shooting with a 2,000-millimeter lens.

–Pete Thomas, via GrindTv Outdoor

–Hat tip to EarthSky.org

–Find Pete Thomas on Facebook and Twitter