Whitetip Reef Shark Shark Bites


Whitetip Reef Shark

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My name's Steve Backshall. Self-confessed shark-obsessed.

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This is Shark Bites.

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This time we meet a night-time ninja...

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..the whitetip reef shark.

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Named for the distinctive white tips to its fins,

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this is the Jekyll and Hyde of the shark world.

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They have a cool and calm character by day,

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cruising around coral reefs...

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..or lazing on the sandy seabed.

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But after dark, they turn...

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..into highly honed hunters...

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..setting their sights on prey that take cover deep within small

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coral caves.

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But how do these sharks fit where others can't?

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I got a closer look off the coast of Malaysian Borneo.

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Lots of lovely sharks around here, just resting on the bottom.

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Although most sharks have to keep swimming...

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..just to breathe, quite a few, like this whitetip reef shark here...

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..can just sit on the bottom and pump water over their gills...

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..just resting from the stressful

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business of being a shark.

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Because after dark is when they really come into their own.

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They use the cover of night to scour the reef,

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targeting prey like fish, crustaceans and octopus

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that are hiding in coral caves.

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And it's their perfect proportions

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and flexibility that make this possible.

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Compared to most sharks,

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the body of the whitetip is extremely elongated

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and seriously slimline. The first dorsal fin is set further

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back on the animal than on most sharks,

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and it's so flexible, it can fold completely flat.

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This dextrous design enables the shark to cram

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its entire body into cracks and crevices in the coral...

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..meaning they can specialise in small spaces inaccessible

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to their stockier competition...

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..and monopolise these hiding places in the reef.

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The whitetip shark.

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With its perfect probing proportions,

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cool and calm character by day and determined

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and deadly persona by night, this is truly a night-time ninja.

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