Oceanic White Tips suffer from a bad reputation, they were supposedly responsible for the death of hundreds of sailors upon the sinking of the USS Indianapolis and even Jacques Cousteau described them as the most dangerous shark species.
It's a good story and one which has fuelled many a sensational headline. The truth is these sharks are both deeply misunderstood and on the point of extinction thanks to human actions.
Their large fins make them the perfect catch for the shark fin soup trade and their natural curiosity means they are often accidentally caught in industrial fishing lines (look closely and you can see the fishing hook in this one's mouth - a lucky escape).
The simple fact is sharks killed 6 people in 2015. Meanwhile, we killed approximately 100 million sharks. It's time to stop buying into the sensationalist headlines and start protecting these magnificent apex predators before we lose them for good.
