Malapascua’s Threshers

T

he thresher shark cleaning
stations at Monad Shoal have
become world famous. First seen by
Malapascua fishermen, early
pioneer divers worked the shoal to
find out if they could be seen and it
turned out threshers have cleaning
stations on the sea mount. By now,
the behavior has been carefully
observed. This is about the only
place in the world where they
appear with any predictability and
scientists have come to study them
here on more than one occasion.
Threshers are a wary shark. Divers
should not get in their way. They are
not seen schooling here but are
usually solitary. They sometimes
circle the cleaning station in twos
and threes, but they arrive and leave

separately.

Thresher sharks grow to a

maximum of 12 ft. (3.3m). With

their long, sweeping tails and

bulbous bodies, threshers are easy

to differentiate from other species.

Their tails may make up 50 percent

of their body. Not generally

regarded as a threat to man, divers

should not get too close as it could

interrupt their cleaning behavior

and they just swim away.

Threshers, as with other members

of the mackerel shark family, give

birth to live pups, usually between

two and four at a time. The sharks

have also been observed leaping

from the sea. They use their tails to

swim through shoals and stun prey,

returning to eat the victims.