Zombie shark still swimming despite being ‘half eaten’

Dr Mario Lebrato and his group were releasing an oceanic blacktip shark into the sea, when it was mauled in a cannibalistic attack.

The Spanish scientist captured the incredibly rare footage off the shore of Mozambique, 1-2m below the ocean’s surface, The Sun reports.

According to the researcher, the blacktip was set upon by other sharks, including several bull sharks which he estimated weighed up to 300-400kg.

Yet despite the attack – and a large portion of its lower body missing – the blacktip shark continued to fight for its life as it was seen swimming away.

Dr Lebrato explained that the shark had struggled for around 20 minutes before succumbing to its injuries.

“Sharks eat sharks, that is well known, but it is super difficult to film and document,” he said.

In 2019, rare images emerged which showed the bloody aftermath of a vicious fight between two great white sharks.

The terrifying pictures supported previous theories that sharks will eat each other.

At the time Professor Mark Meekan from the Australian Institute for Marine Science said: “It’s not just one rogue shark attacking other sharks or even one species of shark attacking other sharks. It’s lots of different sharks turning on each other.”

He believed that attacks have been steadily on the rise because of the ways humans are trying to keep the hungry predators away from swimmers.

When sharks are caught in nets and on baited hook lines they send out distress signals that are picked up by rival predators which fancy an easy meal.

Previous research showed that sharks have been eating each other for more than 1000 years.

An examination of fossilised faeces taken from the prehistoric orthacanthus – a type of shark that swam the oceans 300 million years ago – found it contained fossilised baby shark teeth.

Professor Meekan said: “That shows that 300 million years ago these were cannibal sharks.

“Shark on shark predation is a fundamental trait.”

This article originally appeared on The Sun and was reproduced with permission

Originally published as Zombie shark still swimming despite being ‘half eaten’