Some old friends return...

Week four has started off well with two of our old friends from 2001 making a reappearance; both have been seen before in the last two weeks but it seems that this was the first time they were in the same area together.

Sey.2001.008 was first seen on the 31st of October 2001 and was one of the sharks fitted with an acoustic tag that year and so was also known as Acoustic 4 for some time. He has become a regular having been seen every year since 2006.

Sey.2001.008 photographed off South Mahe on 19th September 2010, Photo Dave Stirling

Week four has started off well with two of our old friends from 2001 making a reappearance; both have been seen before in the last two weeks but it seems that this was the first time they were in the same area together.

Sey.2001.008 was first seen on the 31st of October 2001 and was one of the sharks fitted with an acoustic tag that year and so was also known as Acoustic 4 for some time. He has become a regular having been seen every year since 2006.

The other 2001 repeat visitor is Sey.2001.010 who was first seen on the 3rd of November 2001; he was photographed again in November 2006 and then again this year, so not as regular a visitor as 008 but still nice to see him again.

Sey.2001.010 also photographed off South Mahe on 19th September 2010, Photo Dave Stirling

One of this year’s new sharks must have a story to tell as he was completely missing his dorsal fin which looked suspiciously ‘surgically’ removed.

The shark with its dorsal 'surgically' removed, photo Gareth Jeffreys

There was a report from the Maldives of a whale shark swimming in their aggregation in May 2008 that had its dorsal fin almost severed in a similar straight, surgical cut. Actually of the 57 new sharks seen this year, seven are missing their dorsal fins which is a surprisingly high number and somewhat worrying!

So, lots of interesting sharks this season and our current aerial sighting rate is up to 4.9 sharks per hour so definitely a good season to date!