Maldives 2016: The Dead Shark

A dead whitetip reef shark washed up on the beach. It was just a baby, about 60 cm long, with no obvious signs of damage.

Whitetip on the strandline

Two crows tried to find an opening, but without success. They soon gave up and the ghost crabs moved in. A one point there were six on it, but as the morning heated up, they lost interest.

The crows can't find a way in

Crabs get a meal, but soon overheat

I left too, but returned in the late afternoon. It was a long time before any crabs came to the dead shark, but as the sun went down they started to appear. People also came along the beach and disturbed the crabs every few minutes, so they didn't make much progress.

It was soon covered in flies

I had imagined there would be a feeding frenzy, but it didn't happen. Next morning I had an early start for a snorkelling trip, so it was late afternoon again before I got back to the beach. The shark had gone.

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