Friday, November 12, 2010

Tiger shark in the fishpond?

Word has it, from POH, that there is a 6-foot tiger shark in the fishpond. It was last seen hanging out at one of the makahas, probably because that's the only place where it's deep enough for it to swim. According to research by Dr. Carl Meyer at French Frigate Shoals in Hawaii (Meyer 2010), tiger sharks use their individual experiences to develop habits for feeding sites, so it may either have visited the pond before, or it may come back later.
Really? How did it even get in there?
This is a good example of an organism you don't want in your pond. Ancient Hawai'ians tried to keep predators out. That said, when the pond was originally built, there probably wasn't a space large enough to let something like that in, so they didn't have to worry about the logistics of removing such a large animal.
We're going to look for it tomorrow. I wonder what it's eating...


Meyer, C., Papastamatiou, Y., & Holland, K. (2010). A multiple instrument approach to quantifying the movement patterns and habitat use of tiger (Galeocerdo cuvier) and Galapagos sharks (Carcharhinus galapagensis) at French Frigate Shoals, Hawaii Marine Biology, 157 (8), 1857-1868 DOI: 10.1007/s00227-010-1457-x

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