Shark!

[Aliantha]

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.

[lumberjim]

looks like a dolphin to me.

[DucksNuts]

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

I thought sharks were protected these days?

[TheMercenary]

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.

[Shawnee123]

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.

[classicman]

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.

[lookout123]

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

[lumberjim]

Originally Posted by DucksNuts

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

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

[Aliantha]

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.

[classicman]

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.

[Aliantha]

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...

[Aliantha]

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

Bull sharks are solitary hunters.[5] They often cruise through shallow waters. They can suddenly burst into speed and can be highly aggressive, even attacking a racehorse in the Brisbane River in the Australian state of Queensland.[3] They are extremely territorial and will attack other animals – including humans – that enter their territory. Along with the great white, tiger and oceanic whitetip sharks, bull sharks are among the four species considered the most dangerous to humans, and is probably the most dangerous of the four species. One or more bull sharks are most likely responsible for the Jersey Shore shark attacks of 1916 that were originally attributed to a great white, and which inspired the movie Jaws.[10].

Many experts think the bull shark is responsible for most of the deaths around the Sydney Harbour inlets in the past.[citation needed] Most of these attacks were previously thought to be great whites. In India the bull shark cruises up the Ganges River where it has killed and attacked a large number of people. It also eats the corpses that the Indians float on the river. Many of these attacks have been wrongly blamed on the Ganges shark, Glyphis gangeticus,[citation needed] a fairly rare species that is probably the only other shark that can live comfortably in both saltwater and freshwater. The grey nurse shark was also blamed in the sixties and seventies.

[Elspode]

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

[Aliantha]

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.

[Sundae]

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.