Oceanic Whitetip Shark

(Carcharhinus longimanus)

The study was initiated by myself, Elke Bojanowski, a biologist specialized in animal behaviour and communication research.

I started observing Oceanic Whitetip Sharks (Carcharhinus longimanus) in the Red Sea in 2004, parallel to my work as a diveguide on Egyptian live-aboards.
This webpage gives you some information on this specific shark species, on the layout and the methods of this study, and - most of all - invites you to take part in and contribute to this project.

With the help of underwater photographs and videos, that I take myself and/or collect from other divers, I try to assemble basic population, as well as individual data on these sharks. The centre piece of the research is an identification catalogue of Oceanic Whitetips, which consists of about 500 individuals after five years of study. Additionally, it contains details on where and when these individuals where sighted.

So if you have any underwater pictures/videos of Oceanic Whitetip Sharks from the Red Sea, or know of somebody who does, please contact me, or just send them right to me. Important for me is, WHERE (which reef) and WHEN (which day) the footage was taken.

You can check the contact-section in the menu bar to find the most convenient method for you (and the amount or format of your picture(s)...).
A large number of people helped create the present database with their contributions, either in the form of pictures or by helping me to spread the word within the diving community.

Thanks a lot for that !!!

I hope, you especially will enjoy this webpage.

Meanwhile, I am very busy analysing the data of my fifth season with the Egyptian Longimanus, and to get ready for season six, again with the blue-o-two liveaboards as a platform. And with exciting news, that will be published soon !

You are more than welcome to join us on one of our Red Sea Itineraries, some of them dedicated to informing you about sharks and hopefully observing and diving with them !

Feel free to contact me with any suggestions, questions or else on the project... you might have to be a little patient though, because I do spend quite a bit of time at sea, and sometimes it takes a while to get through my pile of emails and answer them...