Bull Shark CSI-The Guys in Fiji

Like to discover new shark sites? Look no further than the Beqa Adventure Divers Blog. This week they "uncovered" Bull Sharks in Thailand:

Ever heard of Chumphon Pinnacle?

Me neither, until a very pink website announced that it was Thailand's new hotspot for Bull Sharks. I must admit that at first glance, I was rather skeptical.

The first pics showed smallish Sharks with a very distinct dark rim to their tail fin, something that I had never seen in Fiji. Bull Sharks have a closely allied species, the Java or Pigeye Shark (Carcharhinus amboinensis) and my gut feeling was that it could be that species, which would have been a great find in its own right.

As more and more images began populating the site, I however started seeing Sharks that were very much the same as our own sub-adults. Must be that the "rimmed" Sharks were either smaller than even our smallest animals, or that they were displaying some typical Thai color pattern, not at all impossible per se. We know that from Grey Reefies where local populations have a white rim on the first dorsal fin, prompting some splitters to try and describe them as an own species (which they are not).

Having alerted "our" expert Juerg, he confirms the original diagnosis. You can read his conclusions here.

Kudos to DJL (yes: Davy Jones' Locker, of all things...) on Koh Tao for their find and correct identification of the Sharks.

By the way: that would be just down the road from Ko Pha Ngan's Full Moon Party and just around the corner from The Beach - epic!

Who's Josh Lay? We'll Take the Thai Massage!

This week we got a call from a "Josh Lay" wanting some information about a white shark diving trip for 3-6 divers to Isla Guadalupe. On the outset it sounded like an honest phone call, we gave him our standard sales pitch and closed out the conversation.

Here's where it went south. All yesterday, and part of today we have been getting phone calls asking for "Josh Lay". In fact a good buddy of ours from Main who owns www.sharkdiving.com
called us to say he had a hot lead for a party of 3-6...you guessed it "Josh Lay".

The number Mr.Lay left behind to contact him is 323.240.9xxx that number is linked to our home office number here in California, so when you call it you get us!

Amusing? Yes. Whoever this "Josh Lay" is, he knows all about call forwarding, and has a great sense of humor. We have spoken with half the fleet in South Africa, a small shark diving operation in Honduras and a crazy German from Thailand who's got some kind of shark diving and beach massage service...for our money the Thai operation sounds like the winner!

Thailand Fish Cakes Anyone?

There's a big shark, then there's this critter. We're not sure which is more "concerning" for your average swimmer.

Found exclusively in Thailand these giant catfish feed an anything they can get into their gobs. Including, people.

Here's the caption:

Two Thai fishermen show off a 646-pound giant catfish they caught in the Mekong River in the Chiang Khong district of Chiang Rai Province in northern Thailand in mid-May 2008. The fish reportedly scared some tourists.

Editors note: Yeah, no doubt over a few Red Horse beers.

Elasmo Thai V.2

We blogged about this most unlikely of critters a few months ago. Now it seems record anglers with 60lb test lines are actively searching for the next trophy catch.

Unfortunately for these benign elasmos (sharks and rays) they lack big teeth, giant poison filled tail barbs, and a mean disposition.

The future for them is looking pretty grim as long as fishermen have no problems jumping into waters filled with Entamoeba histolytica:

Ian Welch and four colleagues spent 45 minutes battling the 6ft wide and 14ft long fish, which was too big to weigh but was estimated to be about 23 stones.

"When we got it to the surface I could not comprehend that something that size existed," said Mr Welch, 45, a doctor in freshwater biology, from Aldershot, Hants. "It was as big as a snooker table."

Giant Stingrays-Elasmo Thai

When this came across our desk this morning all we had to say was Holy Cra%@!

Yes this is what you think it is, and no this has not been photoshopped. Researchers and fishermen in Thailand landed a simply monster freshwater stingray-what they did with it after this photo finish is anyone's guess.

April 29, 2008—Recreational fishers and biologist Zeb Hogan (wearing cap) hold a live, 14-foot-long (4.3-meter-long) giant freshwater stingray the fishers caught in the Bang Pakong River in Chachoengsao, Thailand, on March 31, 2008.

After weeks of combing remote Southeast Asian rivers for giant freshwater stingrays—possibly the largest freshwater fish in the world—Hogan finally found the creature near a Thai city. To his surprise, she gave birth soon after capture. (Read full story.)

There are accounts of freshwater stingrays growing as large as 1,000 pounds (450 kilograms), which could make them the largest freshwater fish in the world, Hogan said. Hogan runs the National Geographic Society's Megafishes Project, an effort to document 20 or so freshwater giants.

The giant river rays are extremely difficult to catch, as they bury themselves in mud when hooked. They routinely break fishers' lines and bend finger-size hooks straight to escape capture.The ray's deadly barb, located at the base of its whiplike tail—and wrapped in a cloth in this picture—can easily puncture skin and bone.