Emily Chan
The researchers believed that the change meant the tag was in the stomach of another shark because the temperatures were warmer than they should’ve been at those particular depths.
According to the study authors, there were only two sharks in the area large enough to consume a porbeagle shark—the great white shark and the shortfin mako.
Based on the stable depth range of the tag when it was ingested, it seemed more likely that the predator was a white shark. Makos tend to dive deeper and surface more rapidly.
Currently, porbeagles are at risk due to a history of overfishing. The IUCN lists the species as vulnerable. The new finding speaks volumes about the state of the porbeagle population.
“The predation of one of our pregnant porbeagles was an unexpected discovery,” said Anderson. “We often think of large sharks as being apex predators. But with technological advancements, we have started to discover that large predator interactions could be even more complex than previously thought.”
The paper was published in Frontiers in Marine Science.
