Swimming with sharks

by James Brickell for Tiger Beach: underwater Bahamas, 13 November 2008

Diving with lemon sharks at Tiger Beach in the Bahamas, producer James Brickell came across an underwater 'bus' coming towards him out of the shadows.

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James doesn't find being surrounded by sharks as daunting as you might expect.

Accompanied by legendary shark expert Dr Sam Gruber, and with a team of experienced marine biologists and divers, James' team were able to use safely fish bait to bring the sharks in close enough to film. Shark feeding is not something to attempt if you don't know what you are doing.

Experience around many dangerous animals has given James clues to read their body language. A relaxed posture and level pectoral fins meant relaxed sharks, but he was on the look out for sharks showing signs of aggression or stress by dropping their pectoral fins and hunching their backs.

The lemon sharks were drawn to the team's equipment. You may have noticed in one photo Dr Gruber is holding a metal pole. The sharks followed this pole through the water, drawn to the tiny electrical signal it gave off.

While filming pilot whales in Hawaii, researcher Ellen Husain came across some sharks with a fearsome reputation. Find out how Ellen survived the oceanic whitetip shark.