Rare albino shark rules deep

[Cetacea]

Rare albino shark rules deep


Attention England ... this is a great white shark. Actually, it's an albino grey nurse shark spotted off South West Rocks by Jon Cragg. See video of the shark as well. / The Daily Telegraph

PERHAPS this is the English shark that had our northern cousins in a cold sweat last week - after all, it's white, bloated and sports a set of decidedly dodgy teeth.

This rare albino grey nurse has been spotted at Australian's best known diving and fishing spot Fish Rock.

The photo of the 2.2m male was taken by Fish Rock Dive Centre owner Jon Cragg 2km off South West Rocks.

Mr Cragg was speechless when the amazing creature swam past him.

"I saw the big white shadow in the water with two other sharks then when I saw it I couldn't believe it, it was like a ghost coming out of the darkness," Mr Cragg said.

"No one has ever seen one like this before - it was pretty exciting."

Despite albinos having a lower chance of survival because they are visible to prey, Mr Cragg said this shark was "fighting fit".

"It looks like an active male and it was hanging out with the other sharks quite peacefully," he said.

The albino shark discovery comes a week after claims a "great white shark" was photographed off the English seaside last week.

Despite hysterical headlines in UK papers, experts said the creature was most likely a harmless basking shark.

Larry Anderson, who was diving with Mr Cragg, said the albino was a little more cautious than the others.

"I guess to survive standing out the way it did it needed a bit more survival instinct in him," Mr Anderson said.

"Nothing I've seen in my many years of diving could compare to the sight of this beautiful animal as it slowly cruised by."



Since the photograph was taken, the rare shark has been sighted swimming between Fish Rock and nearby Green Island.

Marine expert Julian Pepperell said it was the first albino shark he had heard of: "Where has it been?"

The sighting comes as South West Rocks residents wait to hear if Fish Rock will become a "no-fishing" zone.

The Nature Conservation Council (NCC) is pushing for more exclusion zones in NSW such as Fish Rock on the grounds the grey nurse shark species is nearly extinct, with fewer than 500 on the east coast. However, there is anecdotal evidence to suggest up to 6000 grey nurses are out there.

The NCC has taken their campaign to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal in a bid to force the Government to set up sanctuaries.

If they are successful, Fish Rock will go from being a habitat zone where some fishing is allowed to a sanctuary zone with a 1.5km radius of protection. A decision is expected this month.

Source

[orsobianco]

That's neat! What an awesome thing to see on a dive. I'm glad he had a camera!

[Belugalover]

Is this a new sub-species, or just a different colored shark? I wasn't aware that their color was that varied.

Very cool article, by the way. I would have loved to see that.

[David]

He's an albino: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albinism

[Belugalover]

Thanks, David. I assumed it was something like that, but just wanted to make sure

[Dawn Marie]

Very beautiful creature. Are there any other sea creatures that can be considered (real) albinos too?

[Cetacea]

Very beautiful creature. Are there any other sea creatures that can be considered (real) albinos too?

I think there are a reasonable amount of cetacean albino sightings, I know of a humpback whale (Migaloo), an orca (Chimo) and a dolphin (I think bottlenose) for sure, see this thread:
http://planktonforums.org/viewtopic.php ... bino#52961

Also just had a google and found these:

Albino Pacific white-sided dolphin:


Albino pilot whale:



Albino blue whale:



Albino Right Whale calf and mother:



Albino Spinner dolphin:



Other marine animals: Albino stingray,the image is a bit big so check here

Albino penguin:



Source

Also found some more rays:

Albino short tail ray:



Albino sting ray

[Dawn Marie]

Thank you Cetacea for the pictures! Ill be sure to check out the link you posted too!

[Leviathan]

Anyone know of any other albino marine mammals? I heard that people once found an albino sperm whale.

[Izzy]

Moby Di.ck (stupid censors - it's a NAME for crying out loud!)was an albino sperm whale. I feel like we've had this discussion before - but still fascinating now.