Promoting responsible shark dive tourism.
Identifying Emma and others
Hi everyone and wishing you all a great 2010 with some super diving along the way.
A new member of Emma's Posse has asked how to ID Emma and any of the other supermodels of Tiger Beach and so I will chip in with what I know about ID-ing them - Jim I'm sure will have more to add at some point not least because I can only talk about the named individuals I've met over the course of my trips and I've not come across some of the really big girls like School Bus ...
The short answer is to use an individual's distinctive scarring and colouration patterns - much like is done for ID'ing whales, dolphins and other sharks.
Emma is pretty easy to recognise - she has a bright white scar on her back between her first and second dorsal fins which is really easy to see from the back of the boat in case you are wondering whether she's turned up or not. She used to have another distinctive scar on her left side but this has pretty much healed now so is not very reliable. Face on, I recognise her from two parallel scars on her upper 'lip'. A few years ago these were cuts but they have healed now leaving visible scars that make it easy to tell it's her if she's swimming towards or over you and you can't see her back. They are a dead giveaway in photos as well, together with the distinctive pigmentation pattern (or freckles) on her snout. As Jim mentioned in his last post, she's also sporting an impressive array of mating bites at the moment. When I saw her in November one bite from the upper jaw of a suitor was visible curving along the left side of her body just behind the gill slits. Only time will tell whether these bites leave lasting scars to aid identification in the long term.
Sorrow is another shark I've seen several times at Tiger Beach - her jaw has been broken at some point and gapes open making her pretty unmistakeable.
I've only ever seen photographs of Baby Cakes (aka Relentless, the notorious camera stealer) but she has a snout that is almost totally white with just a 'moustache' of grey above her upper lip that I look for in photos.
Begonia is a much smaller tiger that regularly turns up at Tiger Beach - I recognise her from her distinctive, much paler colouration both in background colour and stripes/dots.
I hope this helps - if anyone else has got tips for ID-ing any of the supermodels please let us know.
Best wishes,
Emma
A new member of Emma's Posse has asked how to ID Emma and any of the other supermodels of Tiger Beach and so I will chip in with what I know about ID-ing them - Jim I'm sure will have more to add at some point not least because I can only talk about the named individuals I've met over the course of my trips and I've not come across some of the really big girls like School Bus ...
The short answer is to use an individual's distinctive scarring and colouration patterns - much like is done for ID'ing whales, dolphins and other sharks.
Emma is pretty easy to recognise - she has a bright white scar on her back between her first and second dorsal fins which is really easy to see from the back of the boat in case you are wondering whether she's turned up or not. She used to have another distinctive scar on her left side but this has pretty much healed now so is not very reliable. Face on, I recognise her from two parallel scars on her upper 'lip'. A few years ago these were cuts but they have healed now leaving visible scars that make it easy to tell it's her if she's swimming towards or over you and you can't see her back. They are a dead giveaway in photos as well, together with the distinctive pigmentation pattern (or freckles) on her snout. As Jim mentioned in his last post, she's also sporting an impressive array of mating bites at the moment. When I saw her in November one bite from the upper jaw of a suitor was visible curving along the left side of her body just behind the gill slits. Only time will tell whether these bites leave lasting scars to aid identification in the long term.
Sorrow is another shark I've seen several times at Tiger Beach - her jaw has been broken at some point and gapes open making her pretty unmistakeable.
I've only ever seen photographs of Baby Cakes (aka Relentless, the notorious camera stealer) but she has a snout that is almost totally white with just a 'moustache' of grey above her upper lip that I look for in photos.
Begonia is a much smaller tiger that regularly turns up at Tiger Beach - I recognise her from her distinctive, much paler colouration both in background colour and stripes/dots.
I hope this helps - if anyone else has got tips for ID-ing any of the supermodels please let us know.
Best wishes,
Emma
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by iDive Sharks on -
Hi Emma,
Thanks for a great read. I am also of the understanding that Tiger Sharks have a very distinct 'fingerprint' marking on their pectoral fins. Whilst in south Africa last year a few of the scientists I had the opportunity to interact with were collecting imagery of these markings for a population study on Aliwal Shoals.
Cheers,
Mark.
-
Permalink Reply by Emma Finn on -
Hi Mark,
Thanks for this (and your other reply about group posts). I've just been looking at photographs of Emma (courtesy of Jim) and using the striping on tiger's pectoral fins as a more systematic ID system makes perfect sense - I assume the stripes won't change as much as scars might with time (only fade) and so would be more reliable.
Was the diving with the tigers good at Aliwal? I tried once but unfortunately the visibility was too bad on that particular day and we couldn't see the tiger until it was within a couple of metres so we abandoned the dive.
Cheers
Emma
-
Permalink Reply by iDive Sharks on
-
Hey Emma,
As far as I was led to believe these 'fingerprints' are visually recognizable throughout the lifespan of the animal, pretty similar in the spots of a Whale shark.
Aliwal can be the best, and the worst place for viz and changing conditions. One day it can be great, calm, warm and clear as a bell and the next, rough as anything with almost zero viz and chilly waters. We would call it quits when getting to the site to find anything less than 5m viz. On a good day, 30m+ and, on one occaison, 14 Tigers at the same time! Cracking dives.
Cheers,
Mark.
-
Permalink Reply by kjeld on -
The question might be stupid but anyway :
I have seen some of the tigers and read about others on Jim's 'captain's blog', but these names, are they recognized by other boats, companies, divers et cetera ?
kjeld
-
Permalink Reply by Emma Finn on
-
Hey Kjeld - Good to chat to you here - Happy New Year!
The short answer to your question is I don't know as I've never dived Tiger Beach or elsewhere in the Bahamas with anyone other than Jim - does anyone else have any thoughts?
These are not names that have been given to individuals by scientists as part of a study of the tiger shark population in that area just names given by the Shear Water crew over the years as they have spent so much time in the water with them they recognise specific sharks.
I have seen photographs of Emma in dive magazines where she is named as Emma but I'm pretty sure the author had been on Shear Water rather than any other dive boat.
Emma
-
Permalink Reply by Ronda Allen on -
Those are most accurate accounts of the sharks I know as well. There was one shark with a hook in her mouth ... Jim can tell you which she is. Kate is another shark with a dent in her side ... left-side as you face her. When you spend a few dives with these girls ... you not only begin to recognize them .. you fall in love with them too!!
© 2010 Created by iDive Sharks.
