The Dorsal Fin

WARNING: Video features language that some may find offensive.

YouTube user kairokk posted a video featuring footage shot off Hawaii’s Kaena Point on January 12, 2012. The video shows a large shark circling a fishing boat and features some colorful commentary by the videographer. The shark in question is identified in the video title and throughout the video by the men on the boat as a great white shark, but a quick glance at the YouTube comments shows that there are others who are identifying it as a mako.

From the 2:08 mark until about the 2:15 mark gives about the best close-up view of the shark. So, to all the shark experts out there, is this a mako or a white shark? (My non-expert self is voting mako.)

The video above is the second in a series of footage of the shark, if you didn’t get enough from the clip above, check out the other clip.

NBC Los Angeles conducted an interview with Michael Castillo, the fisherman who caught and killed a shark from Huntington Beach Pier last month. The shark in question was a juvenile great white shark (Carcharodon carcharias), which is a protected species in California waters. However, Castillo believed he had caught a shortfin mako shark (Isurus oxyrinchus), a species unprotected by law.

A warden from the California Department of Fish and Game examined Castillo’s catch and also identified the shark as a mako. However, the warden took teeth samples from the shark which later confirmed the species as being a white shark. After the shark was positively identified, the warden returned and confiscating the shark.

Castillo was not issued a citation for the white shark. However, NBC LA reports that DFG officials are still investigating the catch, and it will be up to the Orange County District Attorney’s office to decide whether charges will be filed. Castillo maintains that he did not know his catch was a protected white shark.

A quick update on yesterday morning’s post about a juvenile great white shark being caught at Huntington Beach Pier in California…

The L.A. Times reports that California Department of Fish and Game officials have seized the shark. Oddly enough, the warden dispatched to the scene initially identified the shark as a “mako” (presumably Isurus oxyrinchus) and let the fishermen in possession of the shark go, according to the report. The article then goes on to say that “after a second look” the warden realized that the shark was in fact a white shark (Carcharodon carcharias) and “caught up with the men” and seized the shark.

According to Pete Thomas’ Outdoors blog, the DFG’s Capt. Dan Sforza said that they have identified who caught the shark and are investigating the catch. Sforza also added that “nobody is going to get away with anything.”

FischerProductions has recently posted the above video, in which Dr. Michael Domeier disputes the theory that great white sharks (Carcharodon carcharias) descended from the prehistoric C. megalodon. Domeier says that the latest theory is that white sharks likely descended from mako sharks (genus Isurus).

It is noted that mako sharks were originally ruled out as descendants of white sharks due to modern mako sharks having non-serrated, smooth teeth. The discovery of serrations on the teeth of prehistoric mako sharks brought them into consideration as descendants of white sharks, but it is not specifically explained how this ruled out the C. megalodon as a potential descendant of the white shark.

A more detailed comparison of the two schools of thought on C. megalodon can be found at ElsmoResearch’s Carcharodon versus Carcharocles:
What’s in a Name?

YouTube user TheMarkFloro recently posted the above video which shows a fisherman reeling in a moray eel only to have it nabbed by shortfin mako shark (Isurus oxyrinchus). While I’ve seen plenty of videos of tarpon and tuna being snagged by sharks, I think this marks the first time I’ve seen a moray snatched away from a fisherman. The fishermen seemed to take it in stride.