COMING UP!
Jonathan searches the murky depths of California in search of an odd-looking and rare species
of shark!
Welcome to Jonathan Bird’s Blue World!
As you probably know, I love sharks.
And over 30 years of diving, I have traveled the world in search of adventures with as
many species of sharks as possible.
One species--which has eluded me so far--is an odd looking shark known as the Angel shark.
Today my quest for the angel shark is taking me and Zach on a trip to California.
With perfect weather and a beautiful view, Santa Barbara is many people’s idea of heaven.
It’s not just popular for boating.
It has a rich history of scuba diving dating back to the early days of the sport.
As a result it is home to the Santa Barbara Maritime Museum.
Today I’m getting a personal tour of the museum from famous diving historian Leslie
Leanie.
The museum curates a large collection of full-face commercial dive gear as well as numerous other
collections of rare and fascinating diving history.
It’s well worth a visit for anyone interested in maritime history.
Later, we board the Truth Aquatics Vision live-aboard dive boat for 5 days of diving.
Oooh I can’t wait this is going to be so much fun!
We travel through the night and wake up in the shadow of Ana Capa Island, one of the
northern Channel Islands, and part of the Channel Islands National Park.
These islands are uninhabited by people and home to lots of seabirds and sea lion rookeries.
Our captain navigates towards our destination, Santa Cruz Island, as some fog rolls in.
As we eat breakfast, we approach our first dive of the day.
In our protected anchorage in the lee of Santa Cruz, conditions are calm, and we start getting
suited up.
The water here is around 60° F, which isn’t too cold, but it’s not warm either.
So I’m wearing my drysuit.
With all the weight I’m wearing, I’m a total klutz trying to get into the zodiac.
My good friend Ed Stetson, a local diving expert is coming with me.
He knows how to find the angel sharks.
We hit the water and head to the bottom.
As I descend, getting my camera turned on, I’m completely oblivious to a sea lion checking
me out.
Juvenile sea lions are very curious and playful.
They have no fear of divers and make a game out of challenging our video skills.
In the sea lion social scene, blowing bubbles can be a sign of aggression or playfulness.
I wonder if our exhaled breaths are a subtle sign that we want to play.
Sometimes it’s impossible to even pan the camera fast enough to keep the sea lion in
the shot!
Once our new friend gets bored with our lack of energy and moves on to some other divers,
we get back to our mission.
I follow Ed through the surgy, murky conditions.
Ed tells me that it’s usually not this murky and I just got unlucky with the weather.
Soon we swim into a kelp forest.
In search of clearer water, we descend deeper, reaching 90 feet.
The water is much clearer down here, but also much colder.
So we don’t stay too long.
Shallower it’s warmer but the surge makes filming difficult.
As we emerge on the other side of the kelp forest, we reach our destination—the sand.
This is where Angel sharks live.
But in this low visibility it will be difficult to find one.
So we spread out and start searching a grid.
I can’t find anything!
Bu soon Ed calls me over.
His experienced eagle eyes spotted a familiar shape: an Angel shark hiding in the sand.
I have no idea how he ever saw that.
The angel shark buries itself for camouflage.
Only its eyes protrude from its sandy blanket.
The angel shark is so confident in its camouflage in fact, that I can gently wave the sand away
to reveal the shape of the shark…and it’s not a small fish!
There are 24 different species of Angel sharks around the world, and this one, the Pacific
Angel shark, can grow to 5 feet long—almost 2 meters.
In my attempt to reveal the sharks face, I frighten the animal by accident.
But now we can see her swimming, and this is how you know she is not a ray—because
she has a dorsal fin--two of them in fact.
And she swims with the familiar shark-like swishing of the tail.
Without her sandy camouflage, she is a lot easier to see and she knows it.
So she demonstrates for me how she digs in.
Perfect.
Angel sharks are ambush predators.
They don’t swim around a lot.
Mostly they just lay very still and wait for prey to come to them.
And when it does…lunch!
An angel shark may go a week without eating, but that’s plenty when you’re not that
active.
My long dive however, has made me hungry, so it’s time to head back to the boat for
lunch.
Fortunately I don’t have to ambush my sandwich!
Woo!
Man after thirty years I finally got to see an Angel shark.
And they don’t look like a shark at all, but man they are cool!
Heavily fished in the 1970s and 80s, Pacific Angel shark populations plummeted, and sightings
by divers became extremely rare.
But in the last 30 years, with protections in place, they are slowly making a comeback,
and divers are starting to see them more regularly--especially in the waters around the Channel Islands National
Park.
These strange and unique sharks are one of the highlights of diving in California, certainly
one of the wildest sharks in the Blue World.
Hey everyone!
If you love Blue World and would like to help keep this great content coming, please consider
making a donation to Oceanic Research Group’s GoFundMe Campaign.
We could really use your help and every donation makes a difference!