Photo courtesy of Deron Verbeck, retrieved from NOAA.
Citizen science is an efficient source of data for conservationists in Hawaii. Anyone with a camera who spends time in the ocean with sharks can contribute their photographs to local databases. In November 2019, one of these contributions was indeed one of a kind.
Deron Verbeck was enjoying a trip offshore of Kona, Hawaii, when a curious oceanic whitetip came to meet him. Appreciating the peaceful encounter, Verbeck snapped a few photographs of the shark. To his surprise, large suction marks were visible around the shark’s left side. These photographs mark one of the first witnesses that oceanic whitetip sharks encounter giant squid.
The oceanic whitetip shark was once believed to spend most of its time near the surface. Recently, however, evidence shows that the shark frequently dives to deeper waters. Therefore, giant squid interactions are theoretically possible. Thanks to Verbeck, there is now proof of the interaction between oceanic whitetip shark and giant squid. By the looks of the photo, it appears that the shark won this round.