QI: Smile!

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Shark teeth

In honour of Oral Hygiene Day today…

Q: Who has the most teeth – an armadillo a garden snail, a horse, or a tiger shark
A: Shark?
Q: <buzzzz!> Actually a garden snail.  Specifically, their 14,000 teeth (!) are more than 300 times more than a tiger shark (43). In fact, horses (44) and armadillos (74) have more teeth than a tiger shark.

While it varies by species, many sharks average around do average 30,000 teeth throughout their lifespan (as they discard them like toddlers throughout their lives)! That’s one approach to dental care.

 

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QI – Whale Shark Smiles

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whale shark smiles

Q: Do Whale Sharks have teeth?
A: Oh, I know this one…even though they are sharks, they a filter feeder so contrary to the shark stereotype, they don’t have teeth.
Q: Buzzzzz…wrong. They do have teeth. So where are their teeth?
A: Mouth?
Q: Buzzzz…nope, their eyes (as well as small ones in their mouths)

The Maldives Complete Tour isn’t the only exciting event this week as Discovery Channel kicks off its annual Shark Week (we hope our Tour will be its own version of “Shark Week” as well and we are starting off well seeing a Black-Tip and a White-Tip snorkeling this morning). This QI comes courtesy of the article “Giant whale sharks have teeth on their eyeballs”.

  • “That sobering story is nowhere near the top of shark news this week, however. In yet another indication that the planet is tiring of us humans, it has been discovered that the world’s biggest shark has teeth all over its eyeballs…In the exceptionally named research article, “Armored eyes of the whale shark,” a team of researchers from Japan’s Okinawa Churashima Research Center discovered that these beastly predators evolved a unique defense mechanism for their vision: dermal denticles. These denticles are nothing new. Similar v-shaped scales cover shark skin. Structurally, they’re akin to tiny teeth. This feature helps sharks decrease turbulence and drag while gliding through the ocean, making them an even more fearsome fish—a tall order for a shark that grows up to 62 feet in length.”

And you thought whale sharks were the gentle giants of the ocean. They have teeth in their eyeballs!!

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Best of the Maldives: Neon Shark – Ritz Carlton Maldives

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Ritz Carlton - neon shark

We love seeing sharks in the Maldives…this Neon Bull Shark art installation by Carla O’Brien was an especially bright sighting at the Ritz Carlton Maldives:

  • “This large-scale light art installation is a lifesize depiction of a fully grown female Bull Shark, fabricated from a laser and hand-cut metal and LED Neon Flex, a revolutionary replacement for glass neon. The US-born artist, Carla, is best known for the NEON ANGEL WINGS, which went globally viral in 2016 when Katy Perry posted on social media, a photo of herself ‘wearing’ the Wings at the Burning Man festival in Nevada, the USA, in 2016.”

The piece is part of the resort’s 14 piece art collection of modern works in a variety of media.

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Best of the Maldives: “Camo” Shark – Amilla

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Amilla - camo shark 1

International Shark Day today. A time to celebrate those wonderful elasmobranchs. And but Amilla features a particularly distinctive one. It appears to be its own species with a variegated skin patter, but as marine biologists have clarified that it is just an individual with a genetic skin condition. A bit like shark vitiligo.

Amilla - camo shark 2

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QI: Shark Sex

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Sex…AND Sharks! Now that I have you attention!…


Q: How many penises does a male shark have?
A: One?
Q: BUZZZ. Nope. Two penises. “He uses only one at a time, depending on which side of the female shark he finds himself.” One is used for depositing and the other is used for “holding on”. Ducks famously have multiple vaginas (so they can choose which of the many male ducks who take her forcibly to actually sire her children). Sharks have multiple penises.

That’s not all they use to literally embrace their beloved. Male sharks also use their teeth used to hold onto female shark (so much so that “female sharks tend to have thicker skins than males and bigger bodies in order to withstand the results of a male shark trying to hang onto her with his teeth” (up to 3x thicker). Now THAT’s a love bite!


Q: Since sharks are fish and not mammals, how many ways can sharks give birth?
A: One (laying eggs)?
Q: BUZZZ. A number of shark are indeed oviparous (lays eggs), but a number of species are viviparous (give birth live).
A: So two??
Q: BUZZZ. Some shark species are actually ovoviparous meaning that the eggs hatch in the oviduct within the mother’s body and that the egg’s yolk and fluids secreted by glands in the walls of the oviduct nourishes the embryos.

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Best of the Maldives: Daytime Nurse Sharks – Rihiveli Beach

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One of the popular Instagram shots are people mingling with docile nurse sharks. They are quite a big species and so their size and numbers make them look all the more intimidating for those who think are all sharks are scary creatures. Actually, they are about the most docile Selachimorpha you will ever come across.

Nurse sharks are nocturnal and during the day they are often found just lying on the bottom of the seabed or under some overhang. Hence, their French moniker (which is one of my favourite fish names of all time) – “Sleepy Shark”. If anyone claims that a shark always needs to keep moving or it dies, just send them a picture of these dozy dog fish lounging on the seabed. And as a result, unlike the puppy reef sharks so visible cruising the lagoon shallows all day long, nurse sharks are rarely seen during the day from the land.

Rihiveli Dream not only has one of the biggest gathering of resident nurse sharks, but they are very easily seen as they nap in a protected lagoon area just behind the staff quarters. Such proximity and numbers are the result of routine feeding that has lured them in past years; however, the resort no longer engages in such practices. The gang must have decided they like the tranquil and sheltered waters as they continue to hang out there through the day. And guests can go get their Instagram shots from shore during their day-long siesta.

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Maldives QI – Part X

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Realm of the Great White Shark

…for “X” marks the spot where in the world the Great Whites are.

Q: When was the last shark attack in the Maldives?
A: A year ago?
Q: Buzzzzz! No. The Maldives have never had a recorded shark attack on a human.

World Tourism Day today and the Maldives stand tall (much taller than its famously low elevation) among the titans of the travel industry as a bucket list destination. And for selachophiles, the bountiful populations of a range of shark species is one of the many oceanic attractions.

Still, for a few of the more aquatically apprehensive, all these dorsal fins can evokes a number of cinematic fears brought on by everything from Jaws to Deep Blue Sea and Thunderball. In fact, nearly all species of shark keep quite a distance from diving and swimming humans. When you spend some time diving and snorkelling with them, you quickly figure out how they are the scaredy-cats of the ocean turning and fleeing at the least disturbance.

In most cases, these cartoonishly portrayed “man-eaters” are the species “Great White”. And if sharks’ docile temperament isn’t enough to re-assure you then, you can at least travel to the Maldives knowing that you won’t encounter any Great Whites. Great Whites are found pretty much all over the world east-to-west, and north-to-south. But there is one place they don’t hang out in and that’s the Indian Ocean (except for a patch off the coast of east Africa).

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Best of the Maldives: Zebra Shark – Gangehi

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Gangehi - Zebra shark

Shark Week!

The Discovery Channel’s annual Selachii celebration of these always intriguing ocean characters. In the Maldives, every week is Shark Week especially for the ubiquitous reef sharks (black-tipped and white-tipped). But the waters also are home to some more exotic varieties. One of these is the Zebra Shark. Native to the Indian Ocean, but nonetheless quite uncommon on the Maldives reefs. The best place to spot on is Gangehi resort where several have been spotted (pun intended) with considerable frequency. They are quite similar to the Nurse Sharks with their long caudal fin at back and their lazy daytime habits on the seafloor, but they are distinguished by their many spots along their back.

In honour of Shark Week, I have added the new “Shark” category tag to Maldives Complete so you have your own Maldivian virtual shark extravaganza any time you like.

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Best of the Maldives: Nurse Sharks – Huvafenfushi

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Huvafenfushi - Nurse Shark 2
Photo credit – NICOLE HERZ MSc

International Nursing Day today I thought was an apropos time to call out the eponymous “creature feature” nurse shark. As dependable as those faithful healthcare workers who alleviate our suffering, the similarly calm and composed ‘Ginglymostoma cirratum’ can be found on the Huvfenfushi house reef. Even more precisely, the resident marine biologist Nicole Hertz told us we could see her under the restaurant’s decking among the support pillars. Now, we’ve had lots of snorkel guides enthuse about lots of aquatic residents and, but unfortunately we all too often don’t have the fortune to see these allegedly regular visitors. But as advertised, we swam over and the Huva nurse was sitting on the sand precisely where Nickie said she would be.

Nurse Sharks are much more nocturnally active so it was not unexpected to see her just lying there. But, when we participated in Huvafenfushi’s night time “night aquarium”, she perked to life and paid us a visit with a number of graceful passes by the window (see below).

Huvfenfushi - nurse shark spa
Watching the nurse shark at night from the underwater spa.

Huvafenfushi - Nurse Shark
Photo credit – NICOLE HERZ MSc

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