Shark spotted in Canadian Great Lakes (shark week promo)

a reply to: tencap77

That's pretty much what sharks are. The garbage collectors of the oceans. When you take them in total. Dogfish to GW's. They are an essential part of our ecosystem.

This is for me a typical example of seeing what you want it to be. If the video title had been "Bait taken by huge catfish in Lake Ontario", no one would have questioned the authenticity of the video, since it is obviously a catfish.

I say obviously because I think there is no reason to even go through how a bullshark could've ended up there, and if you look closely it looks exactly like a catfish! And surprise, catfish is a known species of Lake Ontario! As much as I would like cool things to be true, this just isn't!

Well I live on the northern shore of Lake Erie and this is really something I have never heard of until now. We always thought that swimming in the lake is safe but this puts a whole new twist on our commonly held belief. If there is one, there must be more and if this is true, more investigations need to be done to make the public aware of such a situation. This is scary as ...

The Conservation Report

In addition to the 29 Lake Huron sightings, reports were received of 14 sharks in Lake Erie; 12 in Lake Ontario; 8 in Lake Michigan, and one in Lake Superior, a decline since 2010’s reports of two sharks in the northernmost lake.

Sharks have also been reported in the Chicago River, the Au Sable River (Michigan), and the Maumee River (Ohio). Unverified spottings have been reported in the Finger Lakes region of New York, which feed into Lake Ontario.

I have not been in the lake for many years, I much prefer a pool over dirty lake water. What is frightening if this is true is that the sharks would prefer shallow water where the temperature is warm and that is where people would be most vulnerable as well. Not sure about the validity of any of this, but I am open to the possibility, I guess.

Its a baby dolphin or porpoise. We have dolphins in our river (and a unique species of bull shark, but that is not important here) and the little ones do get tangled in line and I have seen a severed dorsal fin from fishing line.

LOL I was within of eye's view of Wolf Island around 15 minutes ago, I was looking at the windmill farm they have as it looks nice in the morning sun.

The first thing I thought of when I saw the title was that it might be a Sturgeon but it certainly looks like a Bull Shark and the logic behind it makes sense so far. I've never seen anything like this before in these waters. I live right where the Ottawa River meets lake Ontario, pretty much where this was taken.

LOL perhaps I should go get some bait and have a go at her but I would feel cheated if video author was trolling us but it looks real to me.

a reply to: Zyril

I know that the video is not the best of quality but I didn't see any whiskers and it looked out of proportion compared to a catfish. Catfish are very rare in Lake Ontario and are usually found in the southern part near New York. I know my catfish from my fishing days in middle Georgia.

Could be a catfish but I doubt it.

Sorry, doesn't look like a bull shark to me. Looks like a large catfish. The dorsal fin looks spined and not smooth like a bull shark, the left eye looks protruding like a cat fish, the mouth line doesn't match up with a bull shark, and the back seems too flat for a bull shark - more like a catfish.

Compare images:
Catfish
Bull shark

Looks like a dogfish to me. I'd put a bet on a catfish before a bull shark. Those don't come anywhere close to Lake Ontario because the water this time of year is still just a few degrees above the freezing mark. No way that a bull shark will survive those temps. A Greenland shark could, but they usually stay in the St. Lawrence river.

a reply to: jaynkeel
not uncommon at all sea creatures of all sorts have wasged ashore in the lakes since the sea way was estasblished. when i lived in wisconsin 30 years ago they were having trouble in lake michigan with lamprey eels cutting joles in freshwater fish

I agree that it looks a lot like a catfish.

This, however, I found way more interesting in the related videos on youtube:

m.youtube.com...

a reply to: oldetimehockey4

No discredit to the YT vid, but Mass. Is on the Atlantic ocean. Lake Ontario is a good days drive from the Atlantic. After swimming through Quebec and Montreal. But I'm going with bull shark also, the dorsal fin is to thick to be a big cat. I've seen big blue cats over 100lbs and the spine of the dorsal is only as thick as my pinky.

a reply to: hillbilly4rent

Yup, after really looking at the dorsal fin and mouth as it almost breaches the surface, I agree with you.

Also just before it nearly breaches, I swear I can see the front facing nostrils. The more I watch the video the more I think it's a bull shark.

The first thing i thought was bull shark.Deadly things.

Eh, I'm not convinced. As with a lot of these videos, there's something about it that puts me off. The fact the dude on the left seemingly hooks something conveniently a few seconds into the video starting, the reaction (including lack of swearing) and that the video ends so abruptly.

It's a cool subject and I don't doubt hypothetically that a bull shark could be swimming around in such a lake, certainly there's been lots of great examples historically - a few of them posted in this thread - but this video doesn't do much for me.

What's up with it's spine behind the Dorsal...looks rather thin and sharp for a Shark.

a reply to: Soloprotocol

I think that was throwing me off as well, along with the appearance of the texture of its skin. Also, how it looked fattened as it bent after breaching the water, for lack of a better term.

Comparing the dorsal fin of a bull shark to a blue catfish is the only thing making me believe it's a bull shark.

If you google April Fools Day shark in Lake Ontario you will get a vid where they show you how they did it.

I don't know how to embed video, so google yourself!

a reply to: Zyril

I did some research and found that in 1967 a Bull Shark was caught in Lake Ontario. It was originally tagged in North Carolina.

Shark Report

I can have someone take a look tomorrow, I work with the NP, and am fortunate enough to have some good friends in the field...

Got ahead of myself...after viewing....

Catfish.

Still, will have a biologist and ecologist buddy take a look tomorrow.

a reply to: ParanoidAmerican

Sorry, gotta call BS on the 400 lb paddlefish...agree with the rest...