A baby bull shark got trapped in a drying pond and died as the water evaporated due to rising temperatures.
Dr. Leonardo Guida, a shark researcher at the Australian Marine Conservation Society (AMCS), discovered the “dried-up baby bull shark” about 50 kilometers from the nearest coastline, as reported by Newsweek on November 30. Guida stated that he had never seen anything like it and remarked that this is an example of nature’s extreme harshness.
Dead bull shark trapped in a drying pond. (Photo: Leonardo Guida/AMCS)
The animal was found in the mud of a drying billabong near the Daly River in the Northern Territory of Australia in September. A billabong is a secluded waterhole that appears after flooding or when a river changes its course. In Australia, billabongs form seasonally. Initially, they are filled with water but can dry up quickly as temperatures rise. According to Guida, they can deplete rapidly if the water level is shallow.
Guida estimates that the baby shark had been trapped there for several weeks before being discovered. The temperature in the area at that time was around 35 degrees Celsius.
In their early years, bull sharks (Carcharhinus leucas) live in rivers in tropical and subtropical regions around the world. They move to the ocean as they grow but return to rivers to breed. They can survive in freshwater environments for extended periods.
“When floodwaters recede after the rainy season, some bull sharks, like this young one, do not make it back to the main river in time and get trapped in stagnant ponds, waiting for the next floods brought by the following rainy season. Unfortunately, this shark chose the wrong pond,” Guida explained.
Based on its size, Guida estimates that the baby bull shark was at most one year old. Newly born bull sharks are about 0.4 to 0.6 meters long and can grow up to 3.4 meters when fully mature. Finding a bull shark in this condition is quite unusual, Guida noted. “In other instances where I encountered dried-up sharks, they were either decomposing on the beach or found in markets,” he said.
Bull sharks are listed as vulnerable in the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List, with their population declining. The greatest threats to them are commercial and recreational fishing. The Australian government also permits the killing of bull sharks under a program to protect beachgoers.
Moreover, bull sharks are threatened by climate change and human impacts on their habitats. “Northern Australia has several proposals for water extraction in flood-prone areas to serve agricultural and mining industries. Changes in water status and flow, combined with the effects of climate change, will impact the availability and duration of suitable habitats for sharks,” Guida said.
