Tiger shark vomits up spiny anteater, shocking Australian scientists

Researchers at James Prepare dinner College (JCU) in Australia had been astounded after they noticed a tiger shark throw up one thing completely sudden.

They’d been tagging the sharks off the coast of Queensland’s Orpheus Island in Might 2022 when a shark vomited up a useless echidna. The staff consider this discovery is a world-first. 

“When it spat it out, I checked out it and remarked ‘What the hell is that?’” says former JCU PhD scholar Nicolas Lubitz. “Somebody mentioned to take an image, so I scrambled to get my telephone.”

Lubitz was capable of take one photograph, which exhibits the form of the echidna within the water subsequent to the three-metre-long shark. “We had been fairly shocked at what we noticed. We actually didn’t know what was occurring,” he says.

Tiger sharks are identified for consuming just about something – they’re usually nicknamed ‘the trash cans of the ocean’ and have even been discovered with tyres and license plates of their stomachs. “I’ve seen movies of them consuming a rock for no cause,” Lubitz says. 

Nonetheless, seeing the predator regurgitate an echidna, spines and all, was a complete head-scratcher. “It was a totally intact echidna with all its spines and its legs,” he says.

Echidnas are an egg-laying mammal native to Australia. They appear a bit like a hedgehog that advised too many lies till its nostril grew, like Pinocchio.

The echidna was nonetheless complete when the shark threw it up so the researchers consider it was a current kill.

Precisely how the shark managed to catch it isn’t solely clear however Lubitz assumes that the tiger shark may have taken the echidna whereas it was swimming within the shallows or between the islands (enjoyable truth: though they reside on land, echidnas can swim – paddling with their ft and utilizing their lengthy nostril like a snorkel).

Sharks don’t usually throw up their meals nevertheless it does occur. They often regurgitate what they’ve eaten after they’re harassed, says Lubitz: “On this case, I feel the echidna will need to have simply felt a bit humorous in its throat.”

The tiger shark was unhurt by its dodgy meal and the researchers had been capable of match the animal with an acoustic tag to assist them monitor its actions. The species is critically endangered so studying extra about them is a crucial a part of defending them from extinction.

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