Can You ID This Shark?

This happened while out fishing one day in the SOC. (Excuse me…Sea of Cortez…don’t you just hate abbreviations) Anyway….we were doing okay with various bottom-fish out in deep water, over 200 ft. We had caught some pintos, red snapper, and cabrilla over one of my favorite rock piles. The location was outside of Bahia de Concepcion and around the corner by the mine, then about 1000 yards offshore.

On one retrieve of my heavy jig I had a couple of heavy tugs on the lure, but never hooked up. Bringing the jig back to the surface I noticed something very large following it up…right to the side of the boat.

I took one look and then grabbed my camera. It was shark of about 8 feet nose to tail and had a nice girth. The shark swam lazily around my boat and didn’t seem wary at all… Maybe it was sizing us up as a meal? I dangled the jig up and down on the surface and it scooted right over to investigate the commotion. Then I took this photo. Offers to the crew for a try at hooking and playing the beast were declined.



So here’s a fish quiz for Baja Nomads.

I’ve often wondered what kind of shark came so close to being hand fed. (as in eating my hand)

Does anybody know from this photo? Not very detailed I know, but it's the best image I could get at the time.