{"id":329897,"date":"2025-12-05T18:03:10","date_gmt":"2025-12-05T18:03:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/329897\/"},"modified":"2025-12-05T18:03:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-05T18:03:10","slug":"drones-capture-lemon-sharks-hunting-jaguar-fish-in-brazil-it-has-never-been-recorded-before","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/329897\/","title":{"rendered":"Drones capture lemon sharks hunting ‘jaguar’ fish in Brazil. It has never been recorded before"},"content":{"rendered":"

Drones have photographed lemon sharks feeding on invasive jaguar cichlids in Sueste Bay, part of the Fernando de Noronha archipelago off the north-east coast of Brazil. It is thought to be the first time this predator\u2013prey interaction has been recorded.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Researchers believe the unusual behaviour was driven by heavy rainfall that briefly linked freshwater habitats, where the fish live, to the sea, where the sharks hunt.<\/p>\n

Published in Environmental Biology of Fishes<\/a>, the findings shed light on how sharks respond to sudden arrivals of non-native fish.<\/p>\n

Sueste Bay lies on the southern side of Fernando de Noronha, an archipelago of 21 islands and islets in the Atlantic Ocean, 220 miles (354 kilometres) off the Brazilian mainland. Credit: Getty
\n\"SuesteThe bay is used by lemon sharks as a safe place to breed and hunt. Credit: Getty<\/p>\n

Native to Central America, the jaguar cichlid (Parachromis managuensis) is a freshwater species introduced to the Brazilian archipelago, most likely as a source of protein for human and animal consumption.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In periods of heavy rainfall, the freshwater reservoir where the jaguar cichlids live begins to swell, eventually spilling over \u2013 carrying the fish with it \u2013 into the salty water of the lower-lying Sueste Bay.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Although the cichlid species can tolerate mildly salty water, it becomes stressed at higher salinities; its heart rate increases and its normal behaviour is disrupted. In Sueste Bay, salinity can reach well above healthy levels for the fish.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"jaguarOriginally from Central America, jaguar chichlids were introduced to Brazil, including Fernando de Noronha, probably for their meat. Credit: Bianca Rangel\/IB-USP<\/p>\n

\u201cThe night before our observation, there were heavy rains, causing the Xar\u00e9u reservoir, where the fish live, to overflow into the mangrove swamp, which in turn also overflowed and created a connection with the bay,\u201d says Bianca Rangel, first author of the study and a postdoctoral researcher at the University of S\u00e3o Paulo.<\/p>\n

The effects of the salinity change on the fish were clear, say the researchers, who observed the jaguar cichlids swimming erratically.<\/p>\n

The behaviour didn\u2019t go unnoticed by the resident lemon sharks<\/a> (Negaprion brevirostris), a medium-sized, yellow-brown shark that uses the bay\u2019s warm, shallow waters as a feeding area, as well as a breeding ground and nursery.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Using drones, the team recorded both lemon shark pups and adults feeding on the disoriented fish.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The researchers emphasise that this behaviour appears to be opportunistic. Freshwater fish do not typically form part of lemon sharks\u2019 natural diet, and it is not yet clear whether jaguar cichlids routinely spill into the bay or whether this event was unusual.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThis year there was another overflow, but no one observed this interaction,\u201d says Rangel. \u201cWe don\u2019t know if there were fewer jaguar cichlids or if they simply disappeared. Since there\u2019s no monitoring in the mangrove swamp and the reservoir, we have no way of knowing if the animal is still present.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIf freshwater fish entering the bay becomes commonplace, it\u2019s possible that sharks will learn that after the rains, food will be available,\u201d adds Rangel.<\/p>\n

\"LemonDisoriented by the salinity of the water, jaguar cichlids try to escape from a lemon shark in Fernando de Noronha. Credit: Mariano Correa<\/p>\n

The ecological impact of the jaguar cichlid on the archipelago is still unknown, but invasive freshwater predators elsewhere are known to disrupt native communities.<\/p>\n

The researchers believe that shark predation alone will not eliminate the invasive fish. However, sharks may help curb their numbers when individuals wash into the bay after storms.<\/p>\n

Top image: Lemon sharks hunting jaguar cichlids. Credit: Bianca Rangel\/IB-USP<\/p>\n

More wildlife stories from around the world<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Drones have photographed lemon sharks feeding on invasive jaguar cichlids in Sueste Bay, part of the Fernando de…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":329898,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[64,63,128,338],"class_list":{"0":"post-329897","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-science","11":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329897","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=329897"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329897\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/329898"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=329897"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=329897"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=329897"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}