Merlin's Journey
September, 2017: While in Cendrawasih, one of the sharks we managed to catch and draw blood samples from was Merlin! We also found out why he hadn’t given us data in so long - the antenna on his tag was cleanly snapped off. Not sure how that happened, but we were able to remove the tag and download the full 17 month data set from his tag! That data will be analyzed over coming months, but its a great time series and we were of course also happy to get the damaged tag off him. I attach here two photos of him before we caught him (he had fishing line tangled on his tag), and then a picture of his fin once the tag was removed. I hope we can get some more photos of him in October to show you how nicely the fins heal - with some of the other sharks that we removed tags from, we saw them again 5 days later and the wounds were nearly completely healed!
April, 2017: As noted in my last update, Merlin has been another "Cendrawasih homebody” just like Pongo. Max depth still 360m.
February, 2017: Merlin has been a real Kwatisore homebody - spending 95% of his time within 50 miles of Kwatisore for the past year! He made a few small jaunts out into the bay, but has been at “home” for months now. He did increase his depth record to 360m during this time. Importantly, we’ve managed to catch him twice (once in May, once in late October) and download and redeploy his tag.
August, 2016: This little guy has also remained in Cendrawasih Bay, but did make a relatively long trip out to south Yapen island before coming back to Kwatisore. His max depth remains 350m.
June, 2016: Merlin's tag has been transmitting well, has dived to 350m, and recently has moved north to near south coast of Yapen.
April, 2017: As noted in my last update, Merlin has been another "Cendrawasih homebody” just like Pongo. Max depth still 360m.
February, 2017: Merlin has been a real Kwatisore homebody - spending 95% of his time within 50 miles of Kwatisore for the past year! He made a few small jaunts out into the bay, but has been at “home” for months now. He did increase his depth record to 360m during this time. Importantly, we’ve managed to catch him twice (once in May, once in late October) and download and redeploy his tag.
August, 2016: This little guy has also remained in Cendrawasih Bay, but did make a relatively long trip out to south Yapen island before coming back to Kwatisore. His max depth remains 350m.
June, 2016: Merlin's tag has been transmitting well, has dived to 350m, and recently has moved north to near south coast of Yapen.