Earth Changes

A mysterious animal ate an entire 9-foot great white shark

James Baker
Sploid
Fri, 06 Jun 2014 05:30 UTC

Scientists in Australia tagged a healthy 9-foot great white shark as part of program to track these animals. Four months later they found the tracking device washed up on a beach. Something - something really big - had eaten this apex predator. But what creature could dine on such ferocious prey?

The recovered tracking device showed a rapid temperature rise and a sudden 1,900-foot-deep plunge. It stayed there for many days, moving around and occasionally ascending to go down again until it finally reached the shore.

That's all the information that scientists gathered from the tracking device.

The researchers believe the data shows that a super-predator gobbled the shark, then swam down at high speed, and kept going on with his life. The recorded temperature indicates that the tracking device was inside the mysterious monster's digestive system until it got out.

Reader Comments

Aeneas · 2014-06-07T02:05:17Z

"The device showed a rapid temperature increase." It must have been global warming. Case closed

Mandatory Intellectomy · 2014-06-07T11:51:44Z

Exactly! Yet another proof of how dangerous this thing is. We need to tax people for swimming because they're warming the ocean and it's killing the sharks.

Mal7 · 2014-06-07T03:14:47Z

Orca?

Possibly the shark was eaten by Orca, otherwise known as Killer Whales? There is an abstract of a paper about 2 orca killing and feeding on an 8-meter long whale shark (the whale shark is a type of shark) here: _[Link]
"O'SULLIVAN, J. B.

Monterey Bay Aquarium 886 Cannery Row, Mtry. CA. Monterey Bay Aquarium 886 Cannery Row.

A fatal attack on a whale shark Rhincodon typus, by killer whales Orcinus orca off Bahia de Los Angeles, Baja California

In July of 1992 two killer whales Orcinus orca attacked, killed and fed on an 8-meter whale shark Rhincodon typus in the waters off Bahia de los Angeles. Throughout most of the year both of these species are common inhabitants in the Gulf of California, yet until this time there had been no observations on this behavior to date. Besides the activities of man, few predators have been speculated that have the ability to take the young, juveniles or adults of this species."

Alternatively it could have been some kind of dinosaur-like reptile (some scientists think dinosaurs must have been warm-blooded).

Or possibly it was a hungry sperm whale (the largest toothed whale) deviating from its usual diet of squid (including giant and colossal squid) and smaller sized fish?

TrhthHunter · 2014-06-07T07:21:24Z

Not Neccesarily Warm Blooded

Very large creatures conserve heat very well. Metabolic activity can
raise a large cold blooded creature in to warm blooded range.
One creature not mentioned in the Giant squid. Could it be intelligent
and resourceful enough to overpower a great white shark?
They are known to come to the surface at night to feed.

sottreader · 2014-06-07T12:29:02Z

Likely Just Sensationalistic BS

There is no reason to believe what the headline claims, i.e., that another creature "ate an entire 9-foot great white shark". IMO, the Smithsonian Channel is guilty of creating a sensationalistic headline and wild speculation merely to gather more viewers - a common practice with all media.

Another large shark could have taken a bite out of the tagged shark and swallowed the tag along with a small chunk of the tagged shark; the "tag" could have just dislodged during contact with a rock, hull of a boat, or interaction with another shark; it could have worked loose and just fallen off; etc., etc. Since it is quite common for animals to ingest various items that are not food, and the tag is roughly the same size as a small fish, it is not inconceivable that it (i.e., the tag by itself) ended up in the digestive system of another shark or other creature, thus providing the data as noted.

Until there's actual evidence that supports the headline as written (note the use of the word "entire"), Occam's Razor requires a less sensational explanation.

Mandatory Intellectomy · 2014-06-07T13:47:55Z

Followup Story

They posted a followup saying the shark was eaten by a bigger shark: [Link]

sottreader · 2014-06-07T22:40:47Z

Thanks for the link. An entirely plausible scenario, but still not evidence that the title of the original article is correct.

I have no doubt that such a large shark could quite easily take a huge chunk out of a smaller one, but I have a hard time imagining that, just from a volumetric standpoint, the digestive system (i.e., mouth, gullet, stomach) of a 16-foot shark could accommodate an entire 9-foot shark all at one time.

sottreader · 2014-06-07T22:47:09Z

I'm NOT saying that it couldn't happen, just that it doesn't seem consistent with anatomical diagrams of sharks that I remember seeing many (perhaps too many to remember correctly?) years ago.