Visitors at a Seoul aquarium witnessed an unusual display of shark-on-shark aggression after a large female sand tiger shark attacked and gradually swallowed a much smaller male shark sharing her tank.
The incident occurred at the COEX Aquarium on January 28, 2016, involving an eight-year-old female sand tiger shark and a five-year-old male banded houndshark.
The female, measuring about 7.2 feet (2.2 metres), was considerably larger than the male, which measured roughly 3.9 feet (1.2 metres).
According to aquarium officials, the attack was believed to have been connected to territorial behaviour. Sharks can react aggressively when startled or when another shark enters their space, although the aquarium did not establish that the male had deliberately or repeatedly harassed the female.
About 10 minutes after the initial confrontation, the larger shark was seen swimming through the tank with the smaller shark lodged in her mouth.
Rather than consuming the other shark immediately, the female continued swimming with it as she gradually swallowed her tank mate.
After approximately 21 hours, almost the entire male shark had disappeared inside the female, leaving only the tip of his tail visible.
COEX Aquarium public relations manager Oh Tae-youp explained that sharks have their own territories and can respond by biting when they unexpectedly come into contact with one another.
“Sharks have their own territory. However, sometimes when they bump against each other, they bite out of astonishment.”
Oh also said the shark was likely to have swallowed the male’s body because sharks commonly consume prey head-first.
The incident was particularly striking because the two animals were different in size and species, with the female sand tiger shark more than half a metre longer than the male banded houndshark.
Aquarium officials said the other animals in the tank were accounted for and were unharmed following the attack.
The unusual encounter also highlighted the predatory nature of sand tiger sharks. According to COEX Aquarium, the species eats a range of marine animals, including fish, other sharks, rays, squid and crustaceans.
The 2016 incident attracted international attention after photographs and video showed the female swimming through the aquarium with the smaller shark in her mouth. Reuters footage documented the extraordinary encounter, while contemporary reports from CBS News, India Today and The Washington Post also carried the story.
Sources: Reuters | CBS News | CNN | UPI | ABC News Australia | ScienceAlert | Live Science | Global News
