The Dorsal Fin

As a quick follow-up to today’s earlier story about the great white shark attack that wasn’t, here’s a brief interview with Paul Welsh, the man who was bitten by a wobbegong shark. Interestingly enough, this footage was shot between the time that Welsh was bitten by the wobbegong and the time that he was “rushed” to the hospital, as some media outlets reported. Despite several reports from various media outlets yesterday regarding a white shark attack, at no point does Welsh mention a great white shark, and it almost sounds as if his son mentions something about a “stingray” in the background, which a wobbegong could understandably be confused with (unlike confusing a great white shark with a wobbegong). Cheers to Mr. Welsh for his positive attitude, and here’s to a speedy recovery from his injuries.

After scores of media outlets reported a supposed “great white shark attack” yesterday, just north of Syndey’s Mona Vale Basin, a scientist has ruled out the claims that a white shark was involved and has identified the species involved as a wobbegong (a type of bottom-dwelling carpet shark), according to Australia’s ABC News. Wobbegongs are generally considered harmless toward humans, unless stepped on or antagonized. Paul Welsh was bitten by the wobbegong yesterday. He was treated for lacerations and then discharged from the hospital. A tooth fragment was recovered from his wounds at the hospital, which allowed for the positive identification of the species to be made.

While it doesn’t appear that the victim ever claimed to have been attacked by great white shark, at least one witness, Michael Brown (a “shark spotter”), made the rounds with the media suggesting that a 2m (6.5′) juvenile great white could have attacked the man. According to ABC News, Brown claimed that “the animal that bit Mr Welsh appeared to be a two-metre great white, by the look of its tail.” Brown also told the Herald Sun that Welsh grabbed a rock, he “was hanging on to the rock for grim death.” ABC News reports that Brown has a history of stirring up fears about sharks in Sydney and has accused the NSW Government of ignoring warning signs that shark populations were increasing in the area.

Steve Whan, NSW Primary Industries Minister, has called Brown’s integrity into question regarding his account of the incident and commented that one would not have to know much about sharks to distinguish a wobbegong from a great white.

By the way, this is wobbegong shark…

and this is a great white shark…

YouTube user, OperaJes, has posted a music video to an original song, Deep Blue, (apparently, composed by the YouTube user, aka JesVega) using raw footage of marine life from the European Space Agency’s multimedia library. The ESA and director Jacques Perrin teamed up to film the footage for the movie Oceans, which has already hit theaters in some European markets and will be released in U.S. theaters on April 22. Included in the montage of ESA clips is some excellent footage of a diver gracefully swimming side-by-side with a healthy-sized female great white shark.

Kip Evan’s documentary, Isla Holbox – Whale Shark Island, was recently debuted at the 2010 San Francisco Ocean Film Festival. The film focuses on whale sharks and the effects they’ve had on Isla Holbox as a result of the ecotourism industry created by their presence around the island during the months of June through September. Evans hopes to send a message that whale sharks need to be protected throughout their migration regions, as opposed to just in small marine reserve areas such as Isla Holbox, according to the Ocean Film Fest blog.

Footage from the Australian Institute of Marine Science’s Baited Remote Underwater Video Stations (BRUVS) is making news in Australia’s The Courier-Mail. While The Courier-Mail article claims the video features a tiger shark “stalking” a sea snake, it certainly looks more like the tiger shark is “stalking” bait attached to the BRUVS unit, based on the footage. Regarldess, the footage (which appeared on the AIMS site back in August) is definitely worth a watch…