Photos: Sharks and Rays

I had my first wobbegong shark encounters during this trip to Irian Jaya. Wobbegongs are known for a foul temperament, but the ones I encountered just sort of sat there. I wouldn't be surprised if their reputation stemmed from post-harrassment behavior.

Aside from some manta rays at a cleaning station, we saw NO other sharks during three weeks in Irian Jaya. After hundreds of dives with sharks, many of us have developed a sense for where sharks should appear, and even when we waited at those locations underwater, nothing showed up. Others have reported similarly: sharks have been all but fished out in Indonesia.

Most species IDs and some image captions are courtesy of Judy Foester.