Porbeagle shark devoured: Great white's surprising feast recorded
Scientists tracking the life of a porbeagle shark have made an incredible discovery. The researchers aimed to better pinpoint this fish's habitat, but what they uncovered at one point surprised everyone.
Scientists from the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality have been tracking a roughly 10-foot female porbeagle shark since 2020. The data collected using special transmitters was intended to help better understand the locations and depths at which this fish hunts and resides.
Since the beginning of the observations, researchers noticed a certain regularity in the data, which changed depending on the time of day. However, a few days ago, this changed significantly, as confirmed by measurements such as water temperature, which no longer aligned for scientists.
They conducted a small investigation to determine what forced the shark to undergo such a sudden change. The result, however, surprised everyone. According to scientists, the vast majority of evidence suggests that the female porbeagle shark was most likely eaten along with the transmitter by a larger great white shark.
The shark studied by scientists was eaten by a great white shark
According to Brooke Anderson, a marine fisheries biologist at the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality, this instance represents the earliest recorded occurrence of a shortfin mako shark being preyed upon globally, as reported by the website livescience.com.
The researcher stresses that such an event completely changes the previous understanding of interactions between different shark species. However, this discovery would not have been possible without the specialized technology that allowed us to see that the temperature indicated by the transmitter meant it was inside the stomach of another creature.
