A tiger shark has been observed vomiting up a dead echidna entire off the shore of an Australian island, in what experts believe to be the first such encounter
Echidnas, dome-shaped creatures with spines, are prevalent throughout Australia.
Researchers from James Cook University in North Queensland discovered the unusual phenomenon while tagging marine animals off the region’s Orpheus Island in May 2022, according to a university news statement issued Thursday.
“We were horrified by what we witnessed. We had no idea what was going on,” marine scientist Nicolas Lubitz, a former PhD student at the institution and researcher at the Biopixel Oceans Foundation, stated in the statement.
“When it spat it out, I looked at it and asked, ‘What the hell is that?'” Someone told me to snap a photo, so I raced for my phone,” he added, adding: “I only got one picture, but you can see the silhouette of the echidna in the water.“
According to Lubitz, the three-meter-long (nearly 10-foot) shark regurgitated the echidna, which was dead and “fully intact” with “all its spines and legs.”
He claimed it is “rare” for tiger sharks to throw up their meal, although they can when agitated. “In this case, I think the echidna must have just felt a bit funny in its throat.”
According to the statement, the encounter did not hurt the shark, and the crew released it back into the sea after fitting it with an acoustic tracker.
According to the announcement, another shark that the crew caught and tagged had a “surprising” regurgitation, throwing up half a dugong. A dugong is an herbivorous marine mammal that is mostly found in Australia.
“It threw up a big piece of blubber and then a full vertebral column,” said Lubitz, who assumed they belonged to a dugong calf.
Tiger sharks are known for their voracious appetites, scavenging habits, and man-eating behavior. They devour other sharks, fish, sea turtles, and seabirds, as well as debris including coal, tin cans, clothes, and bones.
According to the statement, they have been known to devour license plates, tiny television screens, and tires. “I’ve seen videos of them eating a rock for no reason,” Lubitz said.
Tiger sharks may be found in warm waters across the world. In May 2023, a kayaker fishing in shallow seas off Windward Oahu, Hawaii, filmed the terrifying moment the beast crashed into his boat.
