Caribbean reef shark

Photo: oakmastermetz · CC BY-NC

Caribbean reef sharks are the quintessential large predator of Bahamian waters and individuals visit Dean's Blue Hole from the outer reef, appearing at the cavern entrance in the early morning and at dusk. They are bold and confident in the Bahamas where decades of shark diving and feeding operations elsewhere in the island chain have produced a relatively unfazed population. At the blue hole they tend to cruise the rim and the shallow reef beside the entrance rather than descending into the column itself.