Shark sightings: A big 2024 and the first quarter of 2025
- ilili Team
- Mar 31
- 4 min read
Updated: Apr 3
Many of you might not remember, but it's been nearly five years since Simon and Gaby started collecting shark sightings around Honduras! So far we have 843 reports of nearly 26 species. Last year, we received a total of 158 sightings!
Our last update was filled with whale shark sightings in July. We pick up where we left you with August starting with two great hammerhead sightings (Eddie's Trifecta and this amazing one off Fort Morgan Cay). Next Yvonne from Bananarama came out of a swim-though to find her dive group face to snout with a large tiger shark. The shark was exhibiting some odd behaviour including breaching the surface. This was later attributed to a dolphin carcass that was in the vicinity. Yvonne said the experience was exhilarating. Also in August, there was a scalloped hammerhead sighted off the wall at Ocean Grove. In Utila, nine nurse sharks were sighted and three whale sharks were seen, mostly around Black Hills.
While there were many amazing encounters with shark species in September and October, there were also two that resulted in human injuries. One person near the mouth of a lagoon in Trujillo in September and one swimmer off the Tela pier in October. These are the first incidents reported since a spearfisher (poacher) was bitten in Mud Hole in March of 2022. In Tela, a bounty was offered for the shark. Ilili released notices to the press, conducted multiple TV and radio interviews to try and dissuade the shark hunters and inform the general public about the importance of sharks to our oceans. Unfortunately, this bounty resulted in the suspected demise of a nurse shark, a great hammerhead and a bull shark. While it is possible that the bull shark was the culprit (it was an individual of the correct size and this species is known for bump and bite investigative foraging), it is still unlikely that this was the very same shark that bit the person. The silver lining was that there were many educational opportunities that arose from these incidents and that both people involved survived.
Other than these two reminders that we are merely guests in the ocean, September and October yielded more nurse sharks in Utila and an unidentified hammerhead at CJ’s Dropoff, Nic Bach reported reef sharks at Edelson's Envy and Wall of Spirit, and Adam Trisk came across a scalloped hammerhead in the depths between Half Moon Bay Wall and Dixies. In November, a great hammerhead swam past the cameras at Utopia in Utila and Sun Divers had a hammerhead encounter at Vern’s Dropoff. There were a few days of whale shark sightings off AKR just after Christmas, there was a reef shark sighting at Rock Harbour in Utila, and Clearwater Adventures saw a hammerhead near Schaeftown to end the year.
2024 was a big year for us with our most recorded sightings yet (158). Nurse sharks were the most commonly reported shark species (59.5%) of the year. Whale sharks came in second place with 7.6% of the sightings and the hammerheads were next with the great, scalloped, and unidentified hammerheads (6.3%, 5.7%, and 4.4% respectively).
Most reports in 2024 came from Roatan (47.5%) with Utila following closely behind with 44.9% (hard efforts from WSORC). We had some of our first shark reports from Tela in Atlantida (thank you Mario Motiño). The first confirmed sightings of bull sharks also happened in 2024, thank you Daniel Giraldo! Lucy, the piebald/leucistic nurse shark of Utila, was last reported in June.
Reports for this year have started with a great hammerhead sighted in Blue Channel (first photo, thanks to Adrien from Grand Bleu). Patric Lengacher got some great drone footage of a whale shark offshore of Saaya’s. There were two Caribbean reef sharks sighted in Utila at Black Coral Wall and two more in Roatan: one was at Key H0le and the other was found dead near the Aguilar wreck.
It was an immature male shark with injuries suggesting that it had been gaffed in the mouth (perhaps to remove a fishing hook). Scalloped hammerheads were sighted near Pirata’s Dream by Clearwater Adventures and Overheat by Bluemoon scuba. Unidentified hammerheads have been seen in front of Ocean Connections and at West Bay’s Triple D. Silky sharks have been sighted several times, sometimes in fishing interactions. Here is a wonderful video showing a successful live release with hook removal from Blanca and Daniel Pellman. Karl Stanley has also seen sharks from his submarine, including a smalltooth sandtiger, some sawtailed catsharks, as well as the usual monster bluntnose sixgill sharks.
Until next time, please keep reporting those sightings!
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A recent study of our most commonly sighted hammerhead species has been released from colleagues in the Bahamas. You can read it here. The team used satellite tags and muscle samples to investigate habitat use and diet of these amazing sharks. Their study indicated that great hammerheads may be more resident than migratory than previously thought. It also showed that while rays were an important diet component, the sharks also ate barracuda and other species of smaller sharks.
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