Fluffy makes a splash!
It's not every day that a White Shark washes up on a popular swimming beach in Sydney.
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But that's what happened on the morning of 11 September 2017, when a 1.8m long juvenile White Shark 'beached' itself on the rocks at Manly Beach. One person tried several times unsuccessfully to push the shark back into the water. People from Sea Life Sanctuary arrived and transported the fish to the nearby ocean pool at Fairy Bower for observation. During this time a crowd of onlookers gathered and the shark was affectionately named "Fluffy".
Fluffy stayed in the pool under close observation for 5 hours before being moved to a tank at Sea Life Sanctuary. The following morning he was released 4km offshore. View video.
White Sharks occur worldwide in temperate, coastal waters, but are also known to swim into the tropics. In Australia, they have been recorded from southern Queensland, around the south of the country and north to north-western Western Australia.
Needless to say, Fluffy's appearance was big news. Here are just a few of the stories.
Australasian Fishes member, Nick Dawkins captured this terrific image from the edge of Fairy Bower pool by holding his camera below the surface. Nine more images are available in Nick's observation. Thank you Nick!
Comments
Farewell Fluffy, thanks for the article Mark - I particularly liked the release video. Funnily enough, Great Whites have also been found around the Manly Sealife Sanctuary: https://biocache.ala.org.au/occurrences/5effd680-abf8-446c-8eb6-6fadd13887d8
Thanks @henrick. The fish in question is 'one of mine' from the Australian Museum collection. It was taken in the shark meshing nets off Queenscliff. I can find out more about it when I return to work if you wish. :)
@markmcg Sure, that would be great - if you have time in your schedule ;D
Smooth Hammerheads were also found there: https://biocache.ala.org.au/occurrences/b2de613f-b33e-4d49-82dd-7b6a57b77086
Interesting....And Dascyllus (Banded and three spot) as well: https://biocache.ala.org.au/occurrences/1d4baf17-5399-41e2-ba3d-77422fc4614a
Will do next week. :)
@henrick I looked up the record for the White Shark in the Australian Museum fish collection (AMS I.44161-001). It is a set of jaws from a fish caught on 10 December 2004.
@markmcg Thanks, so this one was caught in some shark nets? Queenscliff?
Yes, it was collected in the beach meshing program.
@henrick the humbug was collected at Fairy Bower in 1972?? So much for global warming! :)
@richardling Exactly right! Take in account Australia moves 5.6cm northward each year....tropicalisation is inevitable ;D
I never like how people arrive at unsubstantiated conclusions regarding 'global warming', in terms of the complexity of the oceans there are always many variables at play!
Some of my favourite finds from 1940's - 70's:
1940, Starry Triggerfish: https://biocache.ala.org.au/occurrences/735e84ff-45cc-45ba-ad1f-b4702cc4b8e6
1954, Forceps Butterflyfish: https://biocache.ala.org.au/occurrences/c3495510-979b-4ea2-8110-b21041080bbf
1970, Teardrop Butterflyfish: https://biocache.ala.org.au/occurrences/7022fcc0-89ff-446a-b54b-0dc98e8cbf74
1976, Regal Angelfish: https://biocache.ala.org.au/occurrences/e6857a7d-55f2-4261-b6cb-1e15ae9cb40c
1973, Moorish Idol: https://biocache.ala.org.au/occurrences/afd27f74-0708-41f0-a828-03d3eb1fb36d
HI @henrick and @richardling - I agree that it is not possible to be certain about the effect of climate change on range distributions. There are records of Blue Groper from Tasmania early in the 20th century. They are now back there again after an absence for many years. Having said that there is no doubt in my mind that climate change is having a huge impact on marine systems. Combine 'hot cells of water" with more frequent storms and the effect on the northern Great Barrier Reef is tragic to see. I was up there earlier this year and was so saddened by what I saw.
I agree @markmcg however, normally most people attribute the term to anything they deem 'relevant' :(
I for one strongly believe what is happening on the northern GBR is anthropogenic, and that this and all the other effects we're causing will be overwhelmingly negative for the world as we know it (even if a few less people die in cold snaps!).
My comment about the humbug was intended as 'humbug'! :-)
Yeah, humbugs are cool - but get aggressive. Here is a recent and similar story...probs a port jackson shark.
http://www.smh.com.au/environment/animals/woman-picks-up-shark-throws-it-out-of-cronulla-ocean-pool-20171010-gyyct7.html
Agreed that the term may be 'overworked'. And yes, certainly athropogenic!
Looks like a hornshark from the photo. I can't watch the video here, for some reason. Probably blocked at work. Most things are....
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