Whitetip Reef Shark

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Pouembout, New Caledonia, South Pacific 23/12-2013

S21°07.990´
E164°55.174´

Here are some pics from our last snorkelig tour at the coral reef off the north-west coast of New Caledonia.

Among a huge amount of fish and corals, it always gives me the great feeling of happiness when I see a shark appearing from the blue infinite water.

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It is the whitetip reef shark that has been deciding to give us some company today. This shark species is small and is normally not getting bigger than 2 meter long.

Mostly found at coral reefs and in the lagoons, the whitetip reef shark is a quite common encounter when snorkeling/diving in those tropic waters.

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Unlike other requiem sharks, this species can lie motionless on the bottom and actively pump water over its gills for respiration.

They are mostly active during night and do often spend their days resting inside caves or holes in the coral reef.

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The numbers of whitetip reef sharks, or "Triaenodon obesus" in latin, has been declining very rapidly in recent decades due to the increasing fishing pressure in the tropics...

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I truly love spending time in the water with those beautiful marine creatures. As fast as their disappear, they sudden appear again, almost like they want to say; "-Hey Birgitta, we are still here, just needed to patrol our territory for a while..." :)

Freediving down to the bottom to stay there for some time seems to be the best way to get the sharks even more curious and if lucky they come for a very close look... Heaven for a shark-loving person! :)

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With this blog post and shark pics I wish you all wonderful Christmas and all the best for 2014!!

Enjoy your festivities and I will be back with a new blog post soon again... :)