Sharks of Cross Harbour

Juvenile shark chasing after fish at low tide in Cross Harbour Bight.

We spent the afternoon exploring the northern lagoons of Cross Harbour, after running our dinghy Newt aground multiple times on the numerous sand bars and shoals (no detailed charts for this area) and finally walking the boat in at low tide.

We watched in awe as a 4 ft. shark chased after it's prey, pushing itself up onto the shallows against the shore and rapidly circling after a fish. We saw at least seven juvenile sharks cruising over the white sand in about 1 to 2 ft. of water. While it sounds a little unnerving, this is a good sign for the health of the ecosystem here in Cross Harbour.

Young Queen Conch foraging in a tide pool.

Anemone, urchin and brittle star at low tide. Not staged!

It's clear that the Bight is serving as a productive nursery for these top predators, and we saw many examples of other species, like juvenile Queen Conch, that were abundant.

Protecting habitats that serve as nurseries for wildlife is particularly important for animals like Conch that are often over harvested.

At one point, I turned a rock over in a tide pool and found an anemone, a banded armed brittle star, and a small rock boring urchin nestled together.

It reminded me of watching the old Disney nature adventure films when it was pretty clear that the photographers would throw animals together to create an interesting scene (usually it was the food chain in action).

Young shark cruising the shallows of Cross Harbour.

Cross Harbour creek at low tide.