Aww. shark beaches itself on Formentera

H

howardh

Active Member
Shark beaches itself on Formentera

Hope they managed to get it back into the open sea safely; my translation isn't working well so if anyone can read the messages I'd be grateful to know!
BTW appears to be in the Estany/lagoon so it must have got in and couldn't find it's way out of the shallow water.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?...22888.146778292037211&type=1&relevant_count=1

http://sharkfacts.hubpages.com/hub/Sharks-in-the-Mediterranean-Sea

Happily shark attacks are rare in the Med http://izzym.hubpages.com/hub/Mediterranean-Shark-Attacks
 
Last edited by a moderator:
howardh said:
Hope they managed to get it back into the open sea safely ...
Click to expand...

no, it was already dead :?

1h8m4x.jpg

http://www.diariodeibiza.es/pitiuse...kilos-tiburon-frente-escuela-vela/615936.html


howardh said:
... Happily shark attacks are rare in the Med ...
Click to expand...
according to wiki ...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluntnose_sixgill_shark
... it belongs to the group of "sharks" -
but is NOT one of those sharks eating your leg while swimming :twisted:

"...
Because of the bluntnose sixgill shark's large and diverse range they have a wide variety of prey items. Their diet consists of a variety of mollusks, crustaceans, and Agnathans (hagfish and sea lampreys). They also dine on Cape anchovies, Pacific salmon, and various species of hake ...
..."
 
Thanks for the info!

Pity! In those shallow waters the chances of survival were slim. Still, someone's tea tonight! Dunno how rare beached sharks are around the coast of Ibiza/Formentera (attacks on humans appear to be nil over the last 100 years) but if it is a rareity, it might make the local news. IB3tv is it??

Other than the very rare attacks on humans, sharks go into my naughty book for eating dolphins. Hopefully there are many more dolphins in the Med than sharks!!
 
Yes the risks are pretty slim, but anything's possible. Interestingly, a few cases where spearfishing involved including fatal incidents. It's a higher than normal risk sport where sharks are concerned. If you go freediving with a spear gun, getting your catch promptly dispatched is essential and getting yourself out of the water without too much hanging around with catch tied on lines is never a bad idea ... seeing as it's the movement from the fish you've caught and inevitable blood in the water which is obviously attractive to the local 'wolves' ! They're not at all averse to coming in to nick your dinner - or try you out for tasters if you're unlucky. The hunter winds up hunted - it's the way of things !

Of course spearfishing with scuba tanks should never be done in waters round Ibiza, and if I'm not mistaken you need a licence to do it freediving also - officially. I'm not against it provided you do it for your own food and not for gratuitous sport as it tends to be fatal to the fish. Freely admit doing it on a few occasions. Responsible spearfishing is both skilled and a targeted activity, bigger fish are easier targets than small ones and therefore usually no more fish get killed than are needed for the table. But you can expect the wolves of the sea to come nosing around now and again - and to be stimulated into a feeding mode rather than a mere casual encounter. Clearly a few fishermen in those stats wound up being on the canape taster menu :oops:.

craig72 said:
:lol: that picture..could he not just use a banana for scale...
Click to expand...

:lol:
 
kimajy said:
Yes the risks are pretty slim, but anything's possible. Interestingly, a few cases where spearfishing involved including fatal incidents. It's a higher than normal risk sport where sharks are concerned. If you go freediving with a spear gun, getting your catch promptly dispatched is essential and getting yourself out of the water without too much hanging around with catch tied on lines is never a bad idea ... seeing as it's the movement from the fish you've caught and inevitable blood in the water which is obviously attractive to the local 'wolves' ! They're not at all averse to coming in to nick your dinner - or try you out for tasters if you're unlucky. The hunter winds up hunted - it's the way of things !

Of course spearfishing with scuba tanks should never be done in waters round Ibiza, and if I'm not mistaken you need a licence to do it freediving also - officially. I'm not against it provided you do it for your own food and not for gratuitous sport as it tends to be fatal to the fish. Freely admit doing it on a few occasions. Responsible spearfishing is both skilled and a targeted activity, bigger fish are easier targets than small ones and therefore usually no more fish get killed than are needed for the table. But you can expect the wolves of the sea to come nosing around now and again - and to be stimulated into a feeding mode rather than a mere casual encounter. Clearly a few fishermen in those stats wound up being on the canape taster menu :oops:.

:lol:
Click to expand...
Sharks seem to be very interested in surfboards too!

I've never a worry about jumping into Pitiusa waters - more worried about the odd jellyfish (are some of them dangerous??). The water I use tends to be shallow, and looking through the goggles there are only a few wee fish hanging around the rocks. Not much for a shark to be interested in, and in any case, the waters are often clear enough to see large fish from some distance. But this year I'll be watching for sharkies from one corner of my eye.... 8O

Golden rule - there's nothing poisonous or dangerous on the islands. (That just leaves the sea, then....)
 
Mainly because they look like a seal from below!

chances of encountering a shark are slim to none. Even more so in clear, shallow water in the sunshine. They like deeper, darker water at dusk where they can attack from below at speed.

Been done by the Mauve Stinger twice now though... Little blighters!
 
^^ this. Dawn & dusk anywhere are the times to watch but chances of a painful encounter with a shark off Ibiza negligible to none. Jellys come and jellys go. Been swimming with them a fair few times and got the odd sting. On the whole nothing much to worry about but it helps to wear a thin neoprene shirt if there are lots of 'em. Massive swarms of stingers = just don't bother going in the water without a full wetsuit, mask and hood - but you get that more often off the mainland.

A few brushes on your legs & arms with most jellies found off Ibiza you get over completely in an hour or so unless you're allergic. If you just kick at them with snorkelling fins they meander off somewhere else.

Mauve stingers can hurt, yes. But probably not as much as treading on urchins with bare feet :x. I'm usually pretty careful but pulled myself out of the water using a rock (feet get pushed down initially) and toes got forced right onto one. It was FOOKIN painful - as was sitting pulling the spines out using my nails as makeshift tweezers. It took at least 2 mojitos to forget ! Fins are a good idea in the water and be careful round rocks if the water isn't clear.
 
I got urchins in my foot up by the aquarium by Cap Blanc , san an. I was swimming drunk (not advised! ) so it wasnt as painful as it could have been. Took me a while with tweezers and double vision to pull the majority of em out!
 
acidliam said:
I'm quite looking forward to doing a bit of spearfishing when I move over.
Click to expand...

Deeper water is best for proper sized catch :twisted:. Don't do it in the nursery areas round the coastal rocks like I've seen the Italians doing (and stealing urchins for Sashimi lunches on their Catamarans in huge numbers :evil:). Also, if you do indulge in a bit of dinner catching, use the proper flags to indicate your presence in the water or you might find you wind up unified with a boat propeller 8O .. the local boat traffic is far more dangerous than anything else in the water, especially when the tourists flock in !
 
Yeah I nearly wound up liquified by a propeller in Thailand doing Scuba. Luckily one of the instructors grabbed my leg and pulled me down. Scary. Probably just going to freedive, been wanting to do it for ages but couldn't convince my mrs to do it when we did scuba diving as shes claustrophobic! (Don't ask me why she was OK with a tank and mask though)

Am mainly interested in pulpo as well although I gather they are tricky little buggers to catch.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top