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008Zulu t1_j790z01 wrote

Just a reminder that if you see dolphins, there are probably sharks nearby too.

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Levonorgestrelfairy1 t1_j79g2yl wrote

Swimming in the ocean in general is just asking to have nature fuck you up

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chazza79 t1_j79wj20 wrote

But she was in a river..

Prob thought it was safer than in the open sea or beach.

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Intern_Boy t1_j7a1fmc wrote

Nah most Australians should be aware of bull sharks in rivers.

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NoodlesrTuff1256 t1_j7a7epo wrote

Bull sharks are pretty widespread all over the globe and here in the US, I think there have been reports of them swimming into the Mississippi from the Gulf of Mexico.

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HereWeGoAgain-77 t1_j7ax3je wrote

They used to make it up into the great lakes until we developed the river way.

Now they have been spotted as far north as Ohio.

Happy swimming.

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showers_with_grandpa t1_j7bg2w0 wrote

There has never been a confirmed sighting of a bull shark in the Great Lakes. Definitely up the Mississippi as far as Iowa, and once in the Ohio River a dead one was found but pretty safe to say they get in the Ohio all the time.

The Great Lakes are just not a comfortable temp for BULL* sharks and while one could survive during the warms months I don't think environment suits them from a hunting aspect, they aren't deep water predators.

Edit: *forgot to specify bull sharks

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Thighabeetus t1_j7b8ajw wrote

I Need a source on this. I will start googling as well because this is fascinating if true

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watchingsongsDL t1_j7cg6g9 wrote

Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald 2 - this time with sharks!

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NoodlesrTuff1256 t1_j7chwif wrote

Sounds like a good idea for some kind of horror film. We were up in Mackinaw City, Michigan last summer and rode a boat over to Mackinac Island and drove over that huge bridge to take a side trip to the Upper Peninsula. Bull sharks mutated to be able to survive in colder waters escape from a lake-side aquarium and wreak all kinds of havoc.

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cmmgreene t1_j7dff4o wrote

Probably New Jersey to, Jaws may have been inspired by a summer of shark attacks back in the day. On the last attacks of the summer was in a fresh water creek. Sounds more like Bull Shark then a great white.

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PopTartsNHam t1_j7a2arw wrote

Yea, tmk there’s still a famous golf course/pond there with resident bull sharks that got washed in years and years ago.

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capricabuffy t1_j7a5fxg wrote

Same as the river in colleges crossin in southern Queensland. Back in the 70\s big old flood let the sharks in, then when it receeded the sharks got stuck, bred and are a danger for swimmers, cattle etc. There is an episode of River Monsters dedicated to the colleges crossing sharks.

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Amasterclass t1_j7ar7lf wrote

Tbf if there were dolphins in the river the water is brackish enough for most shark species. That being said i’d have said it was most likely to be a bull

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Lucky-Roy t1_j7adoyr wrote

Most of us are. But most of us don't go hooning around on jet-skis. That said, it is a tragedy for her family but one that was totally avoidable.

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TokyoTurtle t1_j7aji7a wrote

She was swimming at North Fremantle (Fremantle is where the Swan River reaches the ocean). That area gets little rainfall in summer, so that section of the river is likely not much different from seawater.

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Abortion_is_green t1_j7bza4d wrote

Swimming in the ocean during a great white shark warning is objectively safer than driving if you know how to swim.

I grew up surfing and an absurd amount of people still paddle out during shark warnings. It is incredibly unlikely to be attacked by a shark.

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KlutzyAlgae t1_j7cauzq wrote

If you are that rare unlucky person it would however be extremely nasty.

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Abortion_is_green t1_j7ccddj wrote

So are car accidents. But most people still drive. I'm still thankful for ocean based phobias though. Keeps the crowd tolerable.

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KlutzyAlgae t1_j7ek6zt wrote

True, but I need to drive places. Happy oceanic prehistoric carnivore dodging.

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plipyplop t1_j7b9jdo wrote

Not only are you now in nature's backyard, you entered their pool.

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MagazineActual t1_j7awtul wrote

As a coastal florida resident, I refuse to believe this. I swim in the ocean all the time and feel safer when I see dolphins. Don't take my comforting misbelief away from me !

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sevenseas401 t1_j7asw11 wrote

Wow okay, thanks for sharing im going on a camping trip next week to an island in australia known for lots of visiting dolphins. And I definitely thought the whole dolphins means no sharks thing was true.

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accioqueso t1_j7ci3op wrote

This terrifies me since we use to swim across the Matanzas River to get to Rattlesnake Island in Florida when we were in high school. It was really common to see dolphins since it was an inlet for the river into the Atlantic, the water was brackish, and the ocean was right there from where we would set up our beach camp and spend the day. We always thought it was cool to be swimming around the dolphins.

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FredR23 t1_j7dee3x wrote

About 30 years ago, I was on vacation at Myrtle Beach. A little boy paddled out to watch dolphins more closely. He was on an inflatable, with his legs in the water.

Sharks follow behind dolphin pods, watching for opportunities to eat older, sick, or younger dolphins.

Chomped the kid's leg off at the knee, while I was in a pool overlooking the sea. It was one of those vacation spots where parents could pretty safely leave their kids to their own devices - and my family (absent at the time) didn't believe me until it was shown on the news that night.

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sharkfilespodcast t1_j7dna63 wrote

From the GSAF database there are six cases of boys bitten by sharks at Myrtle Beach between 1986 and 2010. Each received puncture wounds and/or cuts/lacerations, but none of the cases involved a leg amputation. Your family might have been right to be skeptical...

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FredR23 t1_j7dr2yj wrote

I recall it being reported as an amputation, and that likelihood being the thrust of the news coverage - but maybe it wasn't a foregone conclusion and they managed to save it. I didn't want to focus on it, as it was a vacation - and I was around the same age as the victim. On a separate year, a body was found floating the the pool I had watched the rescue from... it wasn't the luckiest of spots to stay, I guess.

To be clear - the skepticism from my family was that there was any shark attack at all, but I appreciate your fact check regardless.

Six is a much higher and more concerning number than I would have guessed for the region - so thanks also for the warning!

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