Cute Juvenile Whitetip Reef Shark

Juvenile Whitetip Reef Shark (Triaenodon obesus)
Juvenile Whitetip Reef Shark in the Red Sea

by B. N. Sullivan

Yes, sometimes sharks can be cute.   Just take a look at this shy juvenile Whitetip Reef Shark (Triaenodon obesus), less than two feet long,  trying its best  to hide beneath a table coral.  Tell me you don't feel like patting it on the head!

I photographed this youngster in the Red Sea at Abu Kifan reef, near Safaga, Egypt.  I only managed this one shot of the little shark before it zoomed out of its hiding place and hurried away.  I guess it was spooked by the camera flash.  We swam down the reef to look for it, but we never saw it again.