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Diving with the Thresher sharks in Malapascua island Malapascua got most of his fame from the thresher sharks. There are only a few places in the world where you can dive with the thresher shark and Malapascua is the best.
The name derive from the Greek word alopex, meaning fox. The long-tailed thresher shark, Alopias vulpinus, is named the fox shark by some. The common name is derived from a distinctive thresher-like tail or caudal fin which can be as long as the body of the shark itself.
It studies with tagging it was proven that the thresher shark usually spends most of the night in shallow water and descents in the morning to the depth around 200-500 meters and stays there most of the day. Thresher sharks are primarily pelagic; they prefer the open ocean,venturing no deeper than 500 meters. Common threshers are more common in coastal waters over continental shelves.
Named for and easily recognized by their exceptionally long caudal fin, thresher sharks are active predators; to stun prey they actually use their tail. By far the largest of the three species is the Common thresher, which may reach a length of 6 meters and a weight of over 450 kilograms. The Big eye thresher is next in size, reaching a length of 4.9m and at just 3 m, the Pelagic thresher. In Malapascua all three kinds were seen.
Their favorite food is bluefish, juvenile tuna, and mackerel, squid and cuttlefish
Sea Explorers starts in the early morning around 5-6 am we go out to wait at these cleaning stations to dive with the sharks. In Malapascua around 70-80 % all year around you can see the thresher sharks. Other pelagic animals like manta rays and mobulas come and enjoy a cleaning session in monad shoal. UPDATE 2012 In October 24, 2011 we found new cleaning stations in Monad shoal and sightings have been 100% since October. Every single morning we saw the sharks usually between 1-8 sharks a dive. We hope it will continue longer that that.
Photo taken by Fuensanta regular guest visiting Sea Explorers Malapascua check out her homepage for stunning photos |
