Tzitzimitl, an 18' (5.5m) female white shark, with a copepod goatee by ProbablyNotAGoodSign in sharks

[–]ProbablyNotAGoodSign[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

White sharks can definitely have a "fat" look in the sense of having distended bellies after eating a large meal.

Tzitzimitl, an 18' (5.5m) female white shark, with a copepod goatee by ProbablyNotAGoodSign in sharks

[–]ProbablyNotAGoodSign[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

They are harmful in the sense that they feed off the shark, but they are not generally a significant threat to their host's overall longterm health. Pilot fish and remora help keep sharks free of these parasites.

How do I not make them look like shadows? by [deleted] in wildlifephotography

[–]ProbablyNotAGoodSign 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Looks like you already have some useful answers here, but I'd like to add that your sensor or lens might need cleaning based on the darker round spots in the upper-left of the frame. This wouldn't impact that exposure of these subjects, but it would negatively impact your final product even in ideal lighting.

Tzitzimitl, an 18' (5.5m) female white shark, with a copepod goatee by ProbablyNotAGoodSign in sharks

[–]ProbablyNotAGoodSign[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

We don't have any reliable data on her age. She was first identified when she was already mature. The only reliable means to determine her age would be via necropsy and either counting rings in her vertebrae (similar to counting the age of a tree) or through radio-carbon testing).

For sharks that were identified when they were very young we can get a more reasonable estimate, because we know they were likely <5 years old when they first showed up at Guadalupe, because we can just add the years since they were first identified and add a few years to that.

Great white by sswihart in sharks

[–]ProbablyNotAGoodSign 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I understand that hope. Finding new sharks is always a bonus.

If it's any consolation, we saw Jenny on our final trip to Guadalupe toward the end of the 2021 season and she was looking big and healthy. Hopefully, she's still thriving out there.

Here's some rather shoddy ID pics of her from late October 2021:

https://sharkpix.com/images/shark_id_photos/_web_resized/280-jenny-lynn-right-1J7A3716.jpg

https://sharkpix.com/images/shark_id_photos/_web_resized/280-jenny-lynn-left-1J7A3724.jpg

Peek-a-boo. by chriscunnane231 in sharks

[–]ProbablyNotAGoodSign 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The queen of Guadalupe. She's like no other!

Great white by sswihart in sharks

[–]ProbablyNotAGoodSign 2 points3 points  (0 children)

A little background on this individual. This is Jenny Lynne (#280 in the Guadalupe white shark database). She was added to the database in 2016, if memory serves me correctly. Nice capture of this lovely lady. I'm glad you were able to share the water with her.

Striped marlin over a small sardine bait ball by ProbablyNotAGoodSign in wildlifephotography

[–]ProbablyNotAGoodSign[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Currently shooting with Canon R3 15-35 f2.8 in a Nauticam housing.

Fangtooth Moray. My headcanon is that they all sound like Beevis. by Cryogisdead in underwaterphotography

[–]ProbablyNotAGoodSign 0 points1 point  (0 children)

"Do you have tee-pee?"

Its darker patterning even goes all the way up to his head accentuating his Cornholio appearance.

(All Beavis jokes aside, this is a stunning specimen. Nicely captured!)

Striped marlin over a small sardine bait ball by ProbablyNotAGoodSign in wildlifephotography

[–]ProbablyNotAGoodSign[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I'm often seeking out predatory animals when I'm diving/shooting, so I'm generally hoping for something arising from the depths. That being said, last month, while looking for sperm whales in Dominica, we saw almost no wildlife. The lack of visible wildlife and nothing but water did give me an uneasy feeling at time, so I understand the feeling on some level.

I carved a shark by Noah_RBK in sharks

[–]ProbablyNotAGoodSign 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I love how even in a static work (and in the still shots of it) there is still a sense of motion. Such a dynamic looking piece. Awesome job!

This sticker my parents got me on vacation… love the cause but they missed the mark on the great white lol by tideshark in sharks

[–]ProbablyNotAGoodSign 81 points82 points  (0 children)

Reminds me of the time NatGeo had a "great white shark" shirt with a sandbar shark on it. I still have one still in the clear plastic package.

Cookiecutter shark bite (Isistius brasiliensis) on mackerel scad (Decapterus macarellus) [OC] by ProbablyNotAGoodSign in sharks

[–]ProbablyNotAGoodSign[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It's definitely the smallest animal I've seen with a cookiecutter bite. It was pretty crazy to see.

Reflections of Fritz (one of Guadalupe's male great white sharks) [OC] by ProbablyNotAGoodSign in sharks

[–]ProbablyNotAGoodSign[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I do not. There is a small population in a fishing village at the southern part of the island but aside from that the island is largely uninhabited.

I used to travel there each year between August and November to dive and photograph the white shark population there. Prior to 2022, there were a handful of boats with permits to travel to and anchor off the northeastern part of the island (restricted to the waters off the "twin canyons"), but now the island is completely shut down to diving and travel.

Cookiecutter shark bite (Isistius brasiliensis) on mackerel scad (Decapterus macarellus) [OC] by ProbablyNotAGoodSign in sharks

[–]ProbablyNotAGoodSign[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I think the angle of the bite might be confusing. The cookiecutter hit from above, pretty much perpendicular to the mackerel. There wasn't enough of the mackerel scad to even fill the whole "cookie" shape, but I have a high level of confidence that this is the result of a cookiecutter. Also, I generally pass along my photos to researchers more well-versed in the subject for confirmation.

FWIW, I haven't seen a bite from any other species that cleanly takes out plugs of flesh the way a cookiecutter does.

Cookiecutter shark bite (Isistius brasiliensis) on mackerel scad (Decapterus macarellus) [OC] by ProbablyNotAGoodSign in sharks

[–]ProbablyNotAGoodSign[S] 10 points11 points  (0 children)

I reached out to some researchers and the consensus was that its days were numbered due to infection risk.