An Encounter Between a Pelagic Shark and Giant Cephalopod
June 03, 2020
A local photographer observed an oceanic whitetip shark off the coast of Kona, Hawaii, with scars likely caused by the tentacles of a giant squid.
An oceanic whitetip shark (Carcharhinus longimanus ) was observed off the coast of Kona, Hawaii, with scars caused by the tentacles of a large cephalopod. While the exact species could not be confirmed, candidate species include the giant squid (Architeuthis dux ) or species from the genera Thysanoteuthis (flying squids) and Megalocranchia (glass squids). Telemetry shows C. longimanus will dive within the mesopelagic zone and may interact with or even forage for large cephalopods.
Papastamatiou YP, Verbeck D, Hutchinson M, Bracken-Grissom HD, Chapman D. 2020. An encounter between a pelagic shark and giant cephalopod. J Fish Biol. 1-2. https://doi.org/10.1111/jfb.14415.