Shark!
 

This shark was caught just near where we fish sometimes in the Brisbane River. It's at the mouth, so not too unusual to see large sharks although this one is pretty big, and being a bull shark, a little more dangerous than the usual shovel nosed sharks we see there.

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looks like a dolphin to me.

That made me laugh, but geez youre an arse LJ.

I thought sharks were protected these days?

The question is why did they feel a need to catch it? Why not leave it alone and let it feed on what ever it was feeding? Eventually it would go away. Awesome pics anyway.

Eeeek! I agree with Merc! ;)

Where were they taking the shark? Was it a catch and release somewhere safer thing? It looks like they were gonna go throw it on the barbie. In that case...no no no.

Amazing creatures.

Beautiful creature - too bad it was killed for sport - Seems very unusual to me that a shark of that size would be caught by surf fishing. Any details Ali? I wonder if it was feeding and accidentally washed itself ashore or was sick.....???
I've caught large sharks and that one would have been one hell of a fight.

Chuck Norris was swimming nearby and the shark died when he came to close to Chuck's awesome.

That's kind of my whole ......particular..... idiom.. summed up, though, isn't it?

I don't have any details, but I can guess that they were baiting for sharks in order to catch that one. Obviously they weren't quite prepared for the size they caught though. I assume they had a winch to bring it in with. There's no way you'd land a shark that size without some kind of mechanical help.

Classic, it was caught at the mouth of the Brisbane River. There's no surf there. The Brisbane River opens onto Moreton Bay which is protected by large sand islands.

People catch shark to eat. Plenty of people make a living from it in fact. Not all species are protected, and Bull sharks definitely are not. I suspect they probably sold that one to one of the local seafood shops, although I can't be certain of that. No doubt they'll keep the head and clean up the jaws as a trophy though.

As a matter of interest, it is now understood that numbers of sharks along the coast of Australia have been under estimated to the point that some sharks previously listed as endangered or protected perhaps need not be. More research is currently being undertaken on that particular subject though.

Thanks Ali - thats most interesting. I have been shark fishin many a time and that is certainly a major catch. The largest I caught was 7'1" and weighed over 200lbs. It took 2 hours and three anglers to bring in on a Penn International 50 2 Speed Reel. The one in your pic looks much stronger.

Yeah, I think this one would be a bit more than that by weight. Bull sharks are pretty savage too, so I imagine it would have put up a bit of a fight.

The thing is though, Bull sharks often school up and hunt in packs, so if there was one there, there's probably more.

Better keep the toesies out of the water I think!

Hmmm...I've just learned something else. Bull sharks are one of a very few breeds of sharks that can tolerate fresh water habitats, although that water there is very much salt. That'd explain why it's in the river though. I wonder where his mates are...

Conflicting advice on Wiki says they're solitary hunters. Interesting reading though if you're interested.

I can see the next political slogan Down Under: "A shrimp on every barbie, a shark in every rental trailer!"

Well you know things are getting bad when you can't afford to put a prawn on the barbie. ;) Not so sure about a shark in a trailer though.

Well god bless the spammer, he brought this to my attention!
I hate fishing, but hypocritically I love to eat dem fish.

What a beautiful specimen Ali. I'd like to do him justice on the barbie.
And yes, I do mean the shark, he has a less smug grin.

Spammer gone, buh-bye.

Must have been a dolphin.

Australian snorkeller snatched by shark

This anywhere near our Aussie dwellars?

Nothing worse than a shark snatch. Unless it's a whale penis.

:lol2:

Australian sharks seem so very pesky and nasty. Must be something in the water.

I don't think we have any regular perth dwellars. That's right over on the western side of the country.

Interestingly, the mans' family have said they don't want the shark killed.

It's not legal to do so anyway if it's a Great White as has been suggested.

Very sad news, but compared to the number of people killed in car crashes over the Christmas period, one shark death is hardly worth talking about.

That's the thing about it for me. No one runs around saying, 'let's get rid of all the cars' just because someone dies in a crash and yet when someone gets taken by a shark the same crap starts up again.

It's unlucky to get taken, but if you're sharing the environment then that's the risk you take.

I think it's because we have a huge beach culture here because most of the country is hot enough to swim or surf almost all year round so of course the number of encounters with sharks is higher. Also, there's probably more of them here than around most of the pacific and indonesian islands because we don't kill anywhere near as many. The waters around PNG are almost devoid of sharks thanks to over fishing.

Some of those sharks are a bit pesky though. A few of the beaches in our area were closed several times the day after Christmas because what is thought to have been a small school of bull sharks were in close and could possibly have been a danger.

Some species of shark are protected, but not all. Bull sharks are not on the protected list.

The ones you would have heard of are of course the Great White or White pointer, and the Grey Nurse which possibly isn't as close to extinction as once thought thanks to some very large colonies having been found on the central eastern coast.

I've often wondered about the name 'Grey Nurse'. How can they tell? They wear little caps?

:)

Yeah, and sexy stockings and short skirts. ;)

Yeah, humans. :yum:

What if someone snatched you out of your car and paraded you down the beach in a wheelbarrel full of water until you died from lack of oxygen?

ahhh...you might need to explain that one Els. I don't get it.