Emma the Tiger Shark and Jim Abernethy

Jim Abernethy and Emma the Tiger Shark. Emma is the most filmed, photographed, and famous shark on the planet. She has starred in or appeared in approximately 14 movies filmed by her closest friend Jim Abernethy although most are not in English. Nat Geo is currently working on a film about Emma being the most friendly Tiger Shark in the world. I MAY be fortunate enough to have some of the video I shot of her with Jim appear in the film. Diving with her was probably the coolest thing I’ve ever done. She is so friendly and a fantastic shark to photograph. I’ve never had a Tiger Shark swim right up to me and pose as she does. She is definitely a supermodel shark. Video by Steve Kathrein. Video by Steve Kathrein
/ @steve_kathrein
Instagram: / steve_kathrein

[@misssmith7225]

What gets me emotional is to watch her blink her eyes, then keep them open. Such trust. "Oh, it's you! I trust you." (For those that don't know: usually to protect their eyes, sharks close their eyes, when nearing something.)

[@davidhoover4063]

I've noticed hooks and what looks like man made wounds on Emma. She's up there in age. I am happy every time someone posts vids of this very, very special animal! Love you Emma!

[@steve_kathrein]

She has several mating wounds on her in these videos I took. They may be healed by now, but I always pray for her safety.

[@steve_kathrein]

In these videos Emma has just given birth. The huge wounds in the sides are mating wounds from a male Tiger shark. They don't have hands and need to hold on somehow. They will heal in time and she will be fine. There were a few hooks, but Jim always works on removing them when he sees them. Thank you for watching.

[@dianevcic6210]

I love Emma too! 💙💙🦈 My dream is to meet her one day either with Jim or Eli 😊 Emma is so beautiful 😍 I'm glad to hear that she's doing well!

[@paladiumearth7178]

i love how all the sharks, including the smaller fish, turn into a feeding frenzy when the food is introduced. thank you for my daily dose of shark content.

[@mondraymondo]

such graceful creatures... also Emma, even with her torn lower caudal fin, could still glide in water so easily.

[@avroravosk]

What a Wonderful World

[@user-lj2gq5tc5p]

Sweet Emma❤

[@pamelapope859]

Hi Emma, I Wish I could pet you 😊. Thank you so much for sharing this video, I enjoy learning about sharks and how sweet they can be. Like pit bulls, they are so misunderstood.

[@steve_kathrein]

Funny I dive with sharks and own 2 pit bulls. They are the sweetest most loving dogs have ever met. Sharks are much like pit bulls, greatly misunderstood. Thanks for watching.

[@pamelapope859]

@@steve_kathrein Funny you posted this, my friend's pit is sitting here looking at Emma with me. One day and hopefully next summer I will be looking to go on a dive boat so I can see one. I'm terminally ill and can't dive but hopefully one will come to the surface so I can see it 😄

[@lydiaprange7128]

Wie heissen denn die kleineren hellbraunen Haie. ❤

[@steve_kathrein]

Die kleinen Braunen sind also Zitronenhaie

[@misssmith7225]

The magenta filming lights, are they to balance the effect of colours dulling with the depth of water? The quality of colour in the video is spectacular. Thank you for sharing something so very special.

[@steve_kathrein]

I'm really not sure, I was going to ask Jim that the next time I dive with him. I don't use any light except at night. Red is the first color lost when you dive, but if you shine artificial (white) light on something underwater the color shows up the same as on the surface, so I'm not sure why some of the divers were using redish lights. They just put big red spots on the sharks and made everything look like crap to me. I did do a lot of color correction to get these videos to look like this. Thanks for commenting.

[@misssmith7225]

​@@steve_kathrein How interesting! Well that is a delightful little mystery for me to dive (sorry!) into. You have done a spectacular job with the colour correction. Not only that, but the clarity is better than an in-person aquarium. Thank you.

[@ccburro1]

The videography (and lighting) is spectacular. Love the story of Jim and Emma. ❤❤❤

[@cantforgetyou]

If you see this video and think about the horrible video on KZbin of the young guy eaten alive in Hurghada by a tiger shark, it's good to see that these tiger sharks are normally not interested in humans as food.

[@cutoverpark9596]

Hi,Love the channel and you’re relationship with Emma is something very special,2 questions if you don’t mind,Would I be correct that Tiger Sharks are considered to be more dangerous than Great Whites Emma obviously excluded,Secondly are the others in this clip Reef Sharks and if not what species are they?? Thank you

[@steve_kathrein]

Tiger sharks are 1 of 3 species with the greatest number of fatalities to humans. By the stats, white sharks have killed more humans than any other species at 59 fatalities since the 1500's when we first started keeping track. The Tiger Shark has 39 fatalities in the last 523 years and the Bull shark has 26 fatalities in the same time frame. If you compare those stats to and other animals, sharks are very safe animals. Elephants kill around 500 people per year, dogs in the US alone, kill around 90 people each year and worldwide dogs kill around 25,000 people. To finish your question, I feel most white shark fatalities are on surfers where the shark is attacking the surfboard not the person. Tiger sharks do also attack surfboards, so I don't know how to answer if Tigers are more dangerous than Whites? They're both pretty safe animals to be around. #2 Most of the sharks in my videos are Caribbean Reef sharks, some Lemon sharks, and the big stripped ones are obviously Tigers. Thanks for watching and I hope I helped you understood these greatly misunderstood creatures. 🙏🙏🙏

[@zoeilobowdery8778]

She is beautiful glad she has a friend who protects her and looks after her sharks are having a bad time what with being killed for spark fun soup and people swim in there home get bitten and shark gets killed love Emma 🇬🇧

[@robertharris7027]

Hmm, I do not believe that he is getting her used to him. That looks the other way around. And one day she will be hungry and then she knows where the food is. After all, this fish is just an animal.

[@Tamburello_1994]

Silly comment as they've been friends for over two decades.

[@ccburro1]

It’s horrible/tragic/disgusting/wasteful that humans kill sharks just for their fins to make soup. Likewise the killing of manta rays just for their gills for unproven (crackpot) medicinal uses. It reminds me of Europeans who plundered almost to extinction the latter 1800s just for their coats for sale and then left their carcasses strewn on the prairie by the thousands. 😥

[@MeadeFatLoss]

No it isn't

[@user-kw1rz2jx5q]

So cool