Introducing "Chugey" an iconic Great White Shark at Guadalupe Island.

Since most of us are still staying at home during this corona crisis, I'll continue to bring some "shark joy" to everyone by introducing you to our great white sharks at Guadalupe. Today I'd like you to meet Chugey. He is one of the iconic sharks at Guadalupe. We first encountered him in 2004 and he's been regularly sighted ever since. One of his characteristics is his cut caudal (tail) fin. It pretty much resembles the tail of an airplane, with a flat top.

Chugey is a very active shark, to say the least. Being cautious doesn't seem to factor into his actions. He's had numerous injuries throughout the years, but seems to be just fine despite of it.

Just how rough a life does he have? We have talked about the amazing healing power of these amazing Great White Sharks here and it looks like they really need that ability to heal. Chugey, the shark we were talking about in that blog, was back at Guadalupe Island in 2018 and it looked like that he hadn't gotten any more careful since he got his face bit the first time. While his original wound closed quite nicely, he was sporting some brand new bite marks.

As a reminder, here is what he looked like 2 years earlier.

 

Here is what he looked like with his old scar and new bite marks.

 

This is another picture of Chugey, taken by one of our divers, Marie Tartar.

It's great to see him back at Guadalupe every year, acting like nothing happened. I continue to be blown away by both their ability to heal and never showing any signs of discomfort or indication that they are in pain, when swimming around with severe bite injuries.

Once this corona virus pandemic is over in the fall, we are heading back to Guadalupe Island for our 20th season of diving with our Great White Sharks. Nicole Nasby-Lucas, who is the person responsible for our photo ID database, will be coming out with us on 4 of our expeditions.  Thanks to her database, we can individually identify the sharks and also have a history of when they visited Guadalupe Island. In 2019 we added over 60 new sharks and are now over 360 individuals that have been sighted since we first started diving there in 2001.

How many new sharks will we encounter this season? I can't wait to get back there and find out.

What will he be named?

If you would like more information on our expeditions once this corona virus pandemic is over, Call 619.887.4275 or email us at crew@sharkdiver.com

Hopefully soon we'll be able to once again say "Let's go shark diving!"

Cheers,
Martin Graf
CEO
Shark Diver


About Shark Diver. As a global leader in commercial shark diving and conservation initiatives, Shark Diver has spent the past decade engaged for sharks around the world. Our blog highlights all aspects of both of these dynamic and shifting worlds. You can reach us directly at crew@sharkdiver.com.