Cecil

Cecil (USA-L0199) was named by Dr. Carol Price after her father. Carol is the research scientist that manages Spot A Shark USA.

Interesting Facts

This shark was first thought to be a female when sighted in 2016. By 2019, small claspers were visible indicating this was a young male. In 2020, the claspers were fully developed, indicating a mature adult male. Interestlingly, this shark was spotted at the same wreck until 2020, when he was photographed about 57 miles northeast at the British Splendour. Note that he has many scratches and scrapes in the photos taken in 2016. We often see these kinds of scars on sand tiger sharks.

Claud

Claud (USA-R0128) was named by Tanya Houppermans after Claud Hull, who was one of the first SCUBA divers off the NC coast. He helped locate many of the popular shipwreck sites that sand tigers are known to visit. Claude took what may be the first sand tiger shark photograph at the NC wreck in the early 1960s.

Interesting Facts

Claud has only been seen on two wreck sites and is usually found inside the wreck. Claud had a serious injury when he was first photographed, the bottom part of his second dorsal fin was sliced off and he had a big gash just below that same fin. We don’t know the cause, but he has healed, and his scars make him easy to recognize along with his beautiful spots.

Maylon

Maylon (USA-L0186) is named in honor of Maylon White, the Director of the North Carolina Aquariums Division since March 2019. We only have photos of Maylon (the shark) from one day, 9 June 2018, taken at the wreck of the Indra, a US Navy ship active during WWII. The Indra was sunk in 1992 to serve as an artificial reef in 60 feet of water about 10 miles off Emerald Isle, NC.

Encounters

Maylon (the shark) was photographed over the sand flats adjacent to the shipwreck The close up image shows several parasitic copepods attach to his snout.

Do you think Maylon and Maylon look alike?

Ginger Bear

Ginger Bear (USA-L0750) was named after a SCUBA instructor who trained one of the Spot A Shark USA students that worked on the project in 2021. This instructor is an advocate for shark conservation and specializes in safety training, which allows people to go visit sand tiger sharks in their NC offshore habitats.

Encounters

Ginger Bear has only been photographed once, on 28 November 2020, at the shipwreck of the U-352, a German submarine that was sunk about 25 miles off the NC coast during WWII. A replica of this submarine was featured at the NC Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores, in their large ocean habitat, the Living Shipwreck.

Tippy

Tippy (USA-R0272) has been seen from 2014 to 2021 on 14 different days. Often, she is photographed multiple times on the same day.

Tippy has only been observed by the undewater live camera at the Frying Pan Tower site. Screenshots from the live feed are submitted to Spot A Shark.

Interesting Facts

She is easy to recognize because she is missing the top part of her caudal (tail) fin.

Encounters

Rip Torn

Rip Torn (USA-R0610) was named after Elmore Rual “Rip” Torn, an American actor whose career spanned more than 60 years. He won two CableACE Awards for his work, including one for his role as Zed in the Men in Black franchise (1997–2002).

Encounters