American(U.S.) diver killed by Great White Shark

[viking north]

32yr.old male recreational diver killed by a great white while scuba diving near Perth Australia this past saturday. Two Australian men-( Kyle Burden, sept. 4th.)(Bryn Martin, oct.10) were also killed by a shark. Confirmed as a great white in one case but not in the other. My Western Australian friends be vigilant when in their territory and enviorment. I got bumped by a big great white while wreck diving on the west coat of Newfoundland back in the 60's. It was a scarey site--and--yes my wet suit slipped off quite easily once back on deck--

[hoytedow]

It is a sad event, to be sure.
In my area, bull sharks are the more sinister threat, being even more aggressive than Great Whites.

[viking north]

The bulls are very dangerious--highest level of testosterone of any animal on earth--very agressive buggars. Two years ago I was fishing off the end of a pier near Miami and a great bloody hammerhead swam around the end of it, shore bound. I immediately trotted back to shore and notified the lifeguard who reluctantly whistled the swimmers out.Them boys are nothing to play with either. My well insured wife was one of the swimmers-- MMMMmmm maybe i should have ignored it (just kidding of course) Then again ????
All kidding aside they are all scarey when in their territory, I know I was, From the wreck to boarding the boat was the longest 5 minutes of my life. Carried a 357mag. bang stick after that.

[hoytedow]

I had a scary moment swimming to Egmont Key from a sailboat back in the day. Halfway to the beach I saw a fair sized shark fin (this is an area with an abundance of Hammerhead, Bull and Black-tip sharks). Imagine my thoughts as I re-entered the water an hour later to swim back to the sailboat, some 300 ft from shore.

[viking north]

Would not have been me --maybe the next day-- Or on a big log . I waited a week before going back down on that wreck and even then I kept looking around.

[hoytedow]

It had to be done. It was not my boat and I had to be at work the next day. There was no tender.

[sabahcat]

American(U.S.) diver killed by Great White Shark

Does it matter what nationality he is?
Is it supposed to make it more horrific?

Sharks doing what sharks do, eating seals and things that look like them.

[hoytedow]

Nationality does not matter, but it is interesting to us that somebody traveled so far to be a snack.

[sabahcat]

Originally Posted by hoytedow

I had a scary moment swimming to Egmont Key from a sailboat back in the day.

My wife and I had a similar one out at Eagle Island http://g.co/maps/5hwth
We came off the top of a reef (snorkelling) back into deep water as what looked to be a 10ft bull came up from the deep towards us and veered off at what seemed about 10ft away.

We had about 200 metres to swim back over deep (30ft) water to get back to the boat and since then, I have been a bit gun shy of diving in remote areas.

[hoytedow]

I'm not a strong swimmer these days so I prefer now to stay in the boat.

[viking north]

Sabacat, The nationality was mentioned as I thought it would be of interest to our U.S. forum members in that they might look up the news article. While it does not mention his name ( notification of next of kin) it gives enough info that a person could check into the possibility that it was a friend.
On the subject of big agressive sharks--Scientists have been investigating what has been killing large numbers of seals on Nova Scotias famous/infamious Sable Island. The great white was initally blamed but now another species is coming under the microscope. This one just as big and dangerious as the great white and one until a month or so ago I'd never heard of. The greenland shark --apparently new study shows it is fairley plentyfull in the eastern atlantic and have been observed far up the St. Lawrence River, almost up to Quebec City.

[sabahcat]

Originally Posted by viking north

On the subject of big agressive sharks--Scientists have been investigating what has been killing large numbers of seals on Nova Scotias famous/infamious Sable Island. The great white was initally blamed but now another species is coming under the microscope. This one just as big and dangerious as the great white and one until a month or so ago I'd never heard of. The greenland shark --apparently new study shows it is fairley plentyfull in the eastern atlantic and have been observed far up the St. Lawrence River, almost up to Quebec City.

They look like they'd gum you to death

http://www.google.com.au/search?q=gr...w=1599&bih=827

Greenland


Vs

Great White

[viking north]

Ya but your photo of the Greenland isn't smiling like the great white . I don't know if there are different species of the Greenland but the documentary classified it as big and dangerious. If in fact it is them, they do a good job of tearing up big seals from the remains studied so behind those gums they must have big chompers.

[sabahcat]

Originally Posted by viking north

Ya but your photo of the Greenland isn't smiling like the great white . I don't know if there are different species of the Greenland but the documentary classified it as big and dangerious. If in fact it is them, they do a good job of tearing up big seals from the remains studied so behind those gums they must have big chompers.

Heres a smiling set


and more information here including a map of where they hangout and "incidents"
http://www.geerg.ca/gshark_1.html

I still think if I had a choice of being chomped by a shark, I would pick the greenland shark over the great white

[troy2000]

Originally Posted by sabahcat

...I still think if I had a choice of being chomped by a shark, I would pick the greenland shark over the great white

Not necessarily. From what I've read about the Greenland sharks, they set their upper teeth firmly into their prey. Then they start twisting, sawing back and forth with the lower ones. Notice how the lower teeth on either side face away from the center, and are shaped like chainsaw teeth?

At least Great Whites chomp and let go....

Of course my real druthers is to not get chomped by either of them. Or anything else, for that matter.