I guess you're right!
Posted on 07/13/2021 7:22:43 PM PDT by nickcarraway
This is “Shark Week” and fascinating new research reveals something rare, scary, and exciting does happen in Midwestern waters. A study in the Journal of the Marine and Fishery Sciences says that sharks have been spotted twice in the Mississippi River near St. Louis over the past 84-years.
One of the sharks was caught near Alton, Illinois on September 6, 1937. The city is located around 1,740 miles from the Gulf of Mexico. It weighed 84 lbs and was about five feet long. At the time, the Lock and Dam at Alton was the first major obstruction going north on the Mississippi River.
The other shark was caught in 1995 at the Rush Island Power Station near St. Louis.
Most bull sharks in freshwater have been spotted in Florida and Louisiana. But, it is extremely rare for them to travel over a thousand miles upriver.
Researchers Dr. Ryan Shell and Nicholas Gardner have some theories about why the sharks would travel so far north. One hypothesis is that this may be new behavior.
The other idea is that sharks have a wide global range and it may be deeply rooted in the evolutionary history of the species.
But, other than the two examples over 84 years, there appear to be no other records of bull sharks in the Midwest. This includes examples from indigenous people and the recent fossil record.
There is one more idea the researchers have as to why sharks would be spotted near St. Louis:
“The third possible hypothesis is simply that the tendency of the bull shark to move into the upper Mississippi River is rare and anomalous to the point of being unprecedented in North America.”
They believe that the subject of sharks in the upper Mississippi River needs more research to find the answers.
1,740 miles from STL to the gulf is about 550 too many. More like 1200. It’s about 700 miles to drive STL to NO. Those poor barges have a LOT of steering to do in the lower ol Muddy.
Why, don’t like the fishies nibbling at your toes? I mean, the kind that don’t have teeth as big as steak knives. 😁 Down here in Alabama, the saying goes that if there’s a body of water big enough to hold a fish, you can bet your ass there’s an alligator in there, too. They’re everywhere.
**They have been known to travel up the Mississippi River as far as Alton, Illinois,[3] about 700 miles from the ocean.**
Maybe 700 miles for a sharknado shark. The lower Mississippi is full of twists turns. STL to the gulf is probably about 1200.
Most of our swimming holes here are also fishing lakes and if you tried to swim, the little baby fish were always nibbling at you.
It was annoying.
:D
Real horrorshow stuff, was Matawan.
I will wade around in cricks happily but over knee deep, forget it.
:D
You, a salamander, have knees?
:)
My late uncle had a camp on the Cacapon River (it was pronounced ‘Capon’) that he inherited from my grandfather, and a dock with a 16’ speed boat across the road. My cousin and I would go fishing there on weekends when he’d invite us to come down, and the bluegill fishing was like, well, shooting fish in a barrel. We’d sit on the dock and let the fish nibble our toes. Once we’d fill our bucket, we’d take it across the road and dump them into the well in the front yard, then head back to the dock. My aunt would fry up a big ol’ mess of fish for dinner. A shame he sold it; he got tired of having to dry out and remodel the downstairs every two or three years when the river flooded. He eventually sold his boat, too, and I wanted dibs on that.
Well of course.
How can I wiggle around, with stiff little sticks for legs??
:D
I guess you're right!
Wow! Is that you?? You’re gorgeous!
For an amphibian anyway.
Back in the 1980s here was a shark caught in the Elephant butte dam in New Mexico. It had been placed there by someone on a trip from Mexico.
Bull sharks are routinely seen in freshwater rivers.
Crazy theory here:
Maybe the sharks get into the river by chance, and continue up the river because they need water current to flow thru their gills to get oxygen. Sharks need to be in constant motion to breathe, but they have been filmed sitting in one place where the current flows fast enough for them to breathe.
It’s easier on the shark to swim upstream than downstream because the current gives them more oxygen. Once they are ‘trapped’ in the river they naturally go upstream.
Does that make sense?
;D
Somebody here shared that with me because I once said salamanders couldn’t wear jeans or something to that effect.
And minutes later, there it was.
FReepers rock.
I know, because that ‘someone’ was me.
:)
You set me up the bomb!
:D
I heckin love that thing.
I had it for my FB profile pic for a long time.
My thanks for that, again.
:)
I once caught a catfish while surf fishing off the beach.
Well it doesn't mean they like the pork steaks. Doesn't mean they don't like 'em either. We can't rule out that they don' t NOT like them in any event.
Well played.
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