Page 97 - Mexico Diving From the Caribbean to Pacific Isles

oung bull sharks will leave the brackish ull sharks mate during late summer sharks often dwell in very shallow waters,
and early autumn, often in the brackish they may be more dangerous to humans
Y Bwater in which they are born and move than any other species of shark, and along
out into the sea in order to breed with bull water of river mouths. After gestating for 12 with the tiger shark, oceanic white-tip and
great white shark, are among the four shark
sharks of the other sex. The driving fac- months, a bull shark may give birth to four species most likely to attack humans. One
or several bull sharks may have been re-
tor for a bull shark to be in freshwater or to ten live young. They are viviparous; they sponsible for the Jersey Shore shark attacks
of 1916, which were the inspiration for
saltwater is its age; as the bull shark ages are born live and free-swimming. Coastal la- Peter Benchley’s novel Jaws. At the time the
sensationalism was that Great White Sharks
the tolerance for very low or high salinity goons, river mouths, and other low-salinity were responsible for the attacks. The specu-
lation of bull sharks possibly being respon-
increases. It was found that the majority of estuaries are common nursery habitats. The sible is based on some attacks occurring in
brackish and freshwater with some of the
the newborn or very young bull sharks were young bull sharks are free from predators attacks occurring 10 miles up the Matawan
Creek from the ocean.
found in the freshwater area, whereas the while they grow up in the river before they

much older bull sharks were found to be go out to the sea in order to find mates.

in the saltwater, as they had developed a Because the majority of sharks are only able

much better tolerance for the salinity. This to survive in saltwater, the bull shark has

is one of the reasons why adult bull sharks evolved to have their offspring in the fresh-

will travel into the river in order to repro- water where other sharks cannot enter. The

duce. The newborns are not born with a freshwater acts as a protective area where

high tolerance for high salinity, so they are the young are able to grow and mature

born in freshwater and stay there until they without the threat of larger sharks prey-

are able to travel out. ing on the younger bull sharks. Since bull