Yet again, another event proves just how little is known about the great blue ocean. Scientists were shaken when they discovered a large predator lurking beneath the depths of the waves. As they tracked an 8-foot shark, they learned that their massive shark was not the biggest thing in the ocean. What could be so big that it takes down an 8-foot shark? One thing they know for certain is that there is an even bigger predator out there waiting to strike.
A Bigger Predator Takes Down Large 8-Foot Shark
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USA Today shares how a team of scientists from Arizona, Oregon, and Rhode Island have been studying sharks recently. Specifically, this team has been tracking pregnant porbeagle sharks from New England to Bermuda. Porbeagle sharks are found worldwide in temperate to cold temperate waters.
Oceana shares that "scholars have proposed that the porbeagle shark's name originates from the combination of 'popoise' and 'beagle' - referencing the shark's rounded body and dogged hunting methods." These sharks can be found at depths of "more than up to 2,300 feet" and can grow up to "12 feet with a maximum weight of over 500 pounds." Due to their massive size and hunting capabilities, they do not have many predators.
However, the 8-foot shark that this group of scientists were studying met a bigger predator.
How Did They Know The Shark Was Killed?
The group of scientists has been tracking the 8-foot shark for five months. While tracking it, the scientists placed two tags on the shark: a fin mount tag, which was located on the shark's fin, and a pop-off satellite. The fin mount tag gives the scientist "a very accurate geolocation when the fin comes out of the water," and the pop-off satellite "notes the temperature, as well as the shark's depth in the ocean."
The scientists claim that the pop-off satellite is what clued them into the shark being eaten or attacked. Looking back at the shark's travel records, the scientists could tell that this 8-foot shark "had been spending time at depths between 1,640 feet and 3,280 feet." Being so deep in the ocean meant that its readings were cooler.
However, suddenly, the readings went from "15 degrees Celsius to 25 degrees Celsius." One of the scientists had an explanation. They guessed,
"We knew that soemthing happened. We knew that the tag was inside of a warm-blooded creature...and we knew it wasn't a whale or mammal, because mammals are much warmer than that."
The team assumes that the larger predator is another shark species.
There Are Warm-Blooded Sharks?
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While people may be surprised that this bigger predator is warm-blooded, it is not the only warm-blooded shark. The porbeagle is one of five species of sharks that are considered warm-blooded. The Florida Museum shares the other species of shark that are warm-blooded.
"The family lamnidae, known as mackerel sharks, includes the white (Carcharodon carcharias), shortfin mako (Isurus oxyrinchus), longfin mako (Isurus paucus), porbeagle (Lamna nasus), and salmon (Lamna ditropis). "
A Pattern Is Emerging
USA Today shares that this 8-foot shark was not the only porbeagle shark to go missing at the fins of a larger predator. There was data from another shark swimming "around a depth of about 1,968 feet when it suddenly sank closer to the bottom of the ocean."
The team thinks a larger predator attacked this shark as well. The pattern? "Both sharks were attacked at about the same depth, at about the same location, a year apart from one another." While the team does not know what exactly attacked and killed these sharks, they do know one thing. Something big is lurking beneath the surface.
