Sharks: feared or revered – but very rarely understood

Human activity has driven many species of shark into decline. Perhaps it is time for us to rethink our relationship with these beautiful creaturesIn pictures: Thomas Peschak's remarkable photographs of sharksI saw my first shark when I was 16 years old, drifting in the deep off the southernmost tip of Egypt's Sinai Peninsula. A huge school of barracuda circled like an overcrowded carousel along the wall of Shark Reef. Weaving in and out of the mass was a trio of blacktip sharks. I tried to get close, but the current held me at a distance. In my photographs of this first encounter, the sharks were mere specks, but the seed was planted. I wanted to get closer.My first face to face (literally) with a shark occurred a decade later, in 2002. Lying face down on the swim platform of the boat I was on, my arms submerged, I gripped my underwater camera housing more firmly than usual. I was so close to the waterline that I had to raise my head to watch the towering dorsal fin pass. The 3.5-metre white shark made several close passes before she stopped swimming and hovered just centimetres from me. She raised her head out of the water to inspect me and for a split second the signature hollow blackness of her eyes revealed a piercing blue iris that can only be seen up close. The shark repeated her routine for almost half an hour – passing and hovering, passing and hovering. I shot maniacally until I ran out of film.When sharks rise vertically out of the water headfirst, as she did, it'...
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - Category: Science Authors: Tags: Marine life Food Fishing Features Animals The Observer Conservation Environment Science Wildlife Source Type: news