[AnypecekceS]

So, just wondering if DR is known to have sharks, and I DON`T mean the human kind. I already know there are plenty of thoseAlso, what kind of marine life is one to be aware of.

[casinobonbiner]

There are nurse sharks in the main off the south coast and in common with most sharks they are harmless. Off Catalinita island (the smaller neighbour of Catalina) there are also reef sharks - black tip in the main. Again harmless.

The marine life you need to be aware of is stingrays, which are deadly if they sting you in the heart and bloody painful if sting anywhere else, stone fish and scorpion fish and lion fish, all have nasty stings. But if you just look and don't hassle them then no worries. Also watch out for sea urchins if walking in the sea without shoes and at certain times of the year there are jelly fish.

Matilda

[rolex-buy]

There are nurse sharks in the main off the south coast and in common with most sharks they are harmless. Off Catalinita island (the smaller neighbour of Catalina) there are also reef sharks - black tip in the main. Again harmless.

The marine life you need to be aware of is stingrays, which are deadly if they sting you in the heart and bloody painful if sting anywhere else, stone fish and scorpion fish and lion fish, all have nasty stings. But if you just look and don't hassle them then no worries. Also watch out for sea urchins if walking in the sea without shoes and at certain times of the year there are jelly fish.

Matilda

So what kind of sharks are those in the mona passage that eat people?

[Kvkcgktl]

Land shark... Cabarete last year

[jesyflowers]

Looks like a nurse shark to me! Don't attack humans.

[Misebeita]

Sharks live in all the oceans. The DR has almost no history of shark attacks. Its nothing to worry about. You are unlikely to swim in the Mona passage unless you are in a yola sneaking off to Puerto Rico and sink.

[casinobonbiner]

Well if they eat people they will be dead already probably. In a past life I was/am a shark specialty diver and instructor and dived hundreds of times with loads of sharks - black tip, white tip, silver tip, hammerhead, nurse, tiger. They don't eat people as a rule. The shark attacks are usually Great Whites who eat seals and turtles and a person on a surf board looks just like a turtle. You will notice they rarely eat people as once they take a bite they spit them out as we don't taste very nice.

Matilda

[Srewxardsasv]

as we don't taste very nice. Speak for yourself, lady.

[bestworkothlo]

Speak for yourself, lady.

Ha ha, I always heard we taste like pork.....

[pMJWFoAWD]

in 1996 a charter plane crashed off the shore of puerto plata (about 26km from the city), soon after take off. all 189 people on board died and according to some sources: rescue workers who pulled scores of mangled bodies from the water said some showed evidence of shark attack.
so there must be sharks. not much in terms of shark attacks in DR thou, in general.
Hallan mordido por Tiburón restos de joven arrastrado al mar Caribe por una ola | Noticias SIN
DESDE LA REPÚBLICA DOMINICANA: Ataque de tiburón a pescador en Las Terrenas

[MgpojuWy]

i have seen sharks and caught but far from shore. 30 or 40 miles.

[WFSdZuP3]

There is no passport control for sharks and so they can get everywhere, there was even a great white off the coast of Scotland a few years ago, 5 people were attacked in 4 days last year within a 5 mile radius in the Med, a few linmbs chomped off and one death. The are plenty sharks off the South Coast, but I haven't a clue what kind, and rare happenings like the boy eaten off Boca last year while spear fishing. As a rule I don't go in the sea, purely as I don't want to be a rare statistic and only panic when I'm in the water, so is no fun anyway. There is footage on the net of a capsized boat some years ago with sharks circling the victims and the pilots unable to do anything. I'm not sure exactly where it was but in the region so I remember.
I was talking with a guy in Sosua several years ago and he said how the place used to be rich in sharks when there was an an slaughterhouse on the cliff overlooking the bay, all the remains would get dumped off the edge. He went on to say that they have been heavily fished since and numbers are low these days.

[bredkumanfirst]

I recall when I lived in Samana several fisherman reported encounters with sharks. The kind that bit, not nurse sharks.

[fruttomma]

Didn't the Trujillos used to feed their victims to the sharks?

[rengerts]

I think that was a euphemism Chiri.

[fruttomma]

No idea if this is historically accurate, but:

LAS NOTICIAS QUE LEO: JESUS DE GALINDEZ...UNA VÍCTIMA DE TRUJILLO....

"...Galindez fue traido drogado al pais, fue presentado semi-inconsciente a Trujillo, quien intentò hacerle tragar varias hojas del libro màs penetratante contra su règimen abyecto. Al escupir una hoja, Trujillo lo interpretò como un insulto a su persona y decretò su muerte luego de torturas atroces. Fue tirado a los "lobos" unos tiburones que el dèspota tenìa acorralados en un estanque en el estuario del rio Nigua, que alimentaba exclusivamente de sus enemigos".

[pMJWFoAWD]

so we meet again... mister bond....

[fotodemujerahldesnugdo]

According to the International Shark Attack File, the last "unprovoked" attack in the DR was in 1963. The page was updated in January of this year, but there seems to be more recent cases of attacks that are documented but not included in the ISAF. (dv8's post and various others available in online Dominican newspapers).
Either way, and as other posters have mentioned, sharks are around, generally not aggressive, and the number of attacks occurring in Caribbean waters is low. Matilda's posts as an experienced shark diving instructor deserve credit on this subject, as experience is often a good source of information.


FLMNH Ichthyology Department: Bahamas' and the Antilles' Confirmed Unprovoked Shark Attacks

[WFSdZuP3]

No idea if this is historically accurate, but:

LAS NOTICIAS QUE LEO: JESUS DE GALINDEZ...UNA VÍCTIMA DE TRUJILLO....

That's nuts, as dv8 says, more like a bond movie or old gangster movie. Would be interesting to know for sure if this kind of thing actually did (if it did it almost certainly does) go on.

[WFSdZuP3]

FLMNH Ichthyology Department: Bahamas' and the Antilles' Confirmed Unprovoked Shark Attacks

How do you provoke a shark as apposed to unprovoke, tell it 'Yo Mama' jokes?