Pyramid Rock & Spotted Sevengill Cow Sharks

Early Saturday morning greeted us warm but slightly overcast as we set out for Simons Town and Pyramid Rock.

We kitted up alongside the road and entered the water to the left of Castle Rock. We had a bit of a surface swim, but took it easy. Fortunately the water was flat with no surge and before long; we reached the “pyramid” and descended.

The visibility was absolutely amazing – 15 metres plus and the water temperature was a warm 14 degrees C. This is a great kelp forest dive, with the sea bed strewn with boulders covered with life - teat sponges, brain sponges, violet-spotted anemones, strawberry anemones and colourful sea urchins. Large Red Roman and Hottentot swam with us amongst the kelp.

After a while, we sat down in a clearing and waited. It wasn’t long before we spied a seven gill cow shark swimming lazily towards us. It swam through the group, turned around and swam through us again. Soon it was joined by another – and another – and at one stage we counted seven of these prehistoric-like sharks swimming in our clearing.

Spotted Sevengill Cow Sharks are also known as Broadnose Sevengill Sharks and Cow Sharks. They can grow up to about 3.5 metres; have one small dorsal fin three quarters the way down their backs and a long tail, similar to that of a thresher shark. They are grey in colour with black spots and have seven pairs of gill slits (hence the name!) Sevengill Cowsharks feed on rays and smaller sharks, fish, crustaceans and marine animals. These sharks have been known to hunt on seals in mid water. As they are inquisitive animals, they could be potentially dangerous but so far there have been no reports on humans.

Photo of shark: Zsilavecz, Guido
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