Date: 3/21/09
Location: Broomtail Reef, Pt Loma on the Scuba Do
Time in: 2:17 pm
Time under: 52 min
Max depth: 51 ft
Average depth: 40 ft
Min temp: low 50s
Vis: ~20 ft under the gloom layer
Gas: 32.6%
Waves: glassy
Buddy: Barbara Lloyd

Highlights: Large sevengill shark, doing 4 passes. Need I say more?


Barbara already wrote a nice report, so I'll save you the reading. I was photographing Barbara, who was filming creatures. Then a large sevengill shark did a close flyby. We only saw it do three passes, but on looking at second gorgonian shot, you can see the shadow of it's tail on the far left. Barbara's great video is up at:
http://vimeo.com/3813419

Update on the species and sex from Mark Ball, Head Aquarist at Birch Aquarium, Scripps Institute of Oceanography, La Jolla, CA:

"That's a Sevengill, also known as Broadnose Sevengill, Bluntnose Sevengill, or Broadsnout Sevengill (but usually just called "Sevengill") - Notorhynchus cepedianus - a female, looks to be about their max size of 9-feet. Eats everything it can find, including carrion and that includes human carrion after hurricanes, etc. Can live at least 50 years. Aggressive when provoked, considered "potentially dangerous", although a lot of divers have gotten photos of them and I've never heard of anyone getting bitten. They are suspected of a few attacks in California and South Africa. "