An Aussie fisherman was enjoying a calm night casting a line off his local pier earlier this week when he noticed something in the water that didn’t look quite right.
“I saw a white object,” Vlad told Yahoo News. The tidal waters near Sorrento Pier in Port Phillip Bay are known to pull objects in with the current, and initially he thought the item was a bucket.
But on closer look, it appeared to be a shark motionless at the bottom of the water. Using a rod affixed with salmon lures, he managed to hook the shark and after 30 minutes, he lifted it out of the water.
Vlad told Yahoo News what he discovered on Tuesday was an “unbelievable sight”. “The sevengill shark, which would have been close to 3 metres in length, was bitten in half,” he said.
What’s more, “there are clear signs of teeth marks all over it.”
The seasoned fisherman regularly hunts for gummy sharks, but the half-eaten creature with visible teeth marks in its skin left him stunned. Source: Vlad Ilz
Theories emerge about what killed sevengill shark
Sevengill sharks are a relatively common type of shark in Australian waters, found in temperate coastal waters from Sydney to Esperance in Western Australia.
According to Museums Victoria, they are known to be fairly sluggish animals, but can be powerful predators and can become aggressive if provoked.
While sharks are generally considered apex predators, meaning they are at the top of the food chain, sharks like the sevengill do still face threats from other species. As to what ate this one in half, Vlad said he had a theory.
“I believe it was an orca chasing the sevengill sharks,” he said, although other fishermen he’s spoken to believe that it could have been a great white.
Orcas are known to target and consume the livers of sevengill sharks, often leaving the rest of the carcass behind. It’s understood that livers are the most nutrient-rich part of the shark.
“I believe the attack happened in slightly deeper water and the shark was bitten and immobilised,” he theorised. He described this type of attack as “uncommon”.
It is rare to see an orca in Victoria’s Port Phillip Bay, but they have been sighted there before. Sightings are most common during the humpback whale migration, which takes place between May and November.
Yahoo News recently reported on an orca sighting near the shoreline of Frederick Henry Bay in southeast Tasmania.
Marine researcher David Donnelly, who leads the Killer Whales Australia Project, recently told Yahoo News that they’re “rarely ever sighted” on the East coast of Australia and researchers still don’t fully understand their migration patterns.
“They range all up and down the coast, [but] we don’t even know how far they range,” he said. “And when they are present, they’re only present for a relatively short amount of time.” It’s a totally different story across the country in Western Australia, where they’re typically present for weeks at a time.
Orca’s were recently spotted off the East Coast of Australia. Source: Lucy Bradshaw/Facebook
Fish in Port Phillip Bay ‘spooked’ by elusive predator
The following day Vlad returned to the pier and said he fished for 10 hours but “didn’t have a single bite”.
He reckons whatever took the sevengill shark may still be around.
“But it is unusually quiet around Sorrento and Portsea piers for this time of the year,” he said. “I’m just curious what beast is spooking these fish away.”
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