MonsterQuest

MonsterQuest: Bull Shark

Bull Shark "Jaws in Illinois"

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BEHAVIOR

Bull sharks are fast, aggressive and known for head-butting their victims before attacking. They lurk in shadows awaiting their prey and will eat almost anything. While there are more than 350 shark species, it's believed that bull sharks, along with great whites and tiger sharks, are the primary predators behind the majority of unprovoked shark attacks.

WHEREABOUTS

Bull sharks in North America typically reside in the Atlantic Ocean, from Florida to Long Island, New York; the Gulf of Mexico; and the Pacific Ocean, from Mexico to Los Angeles, California. However, these saltwater predators possess a unique ability to swim into freshwater rivers and lakes and travel hundreds of miles inland to places where no one would ever expect to see a shark.

VITAL STATS

Bull sharks average from seven feet to 12 feet in length and typically tip the scales at anywhere from 200 pounds to 500 pounds.

RELATIVES

There have been reports of Greenland sharks in Canada's St. Lawrence River. These sharks, which are usually found in the North Atlantic and Arctic regions, can measure at least 20 feet long, weigh more than a ton and eat everything from horse and reindeer carcasses to seals and porpoises.

HISTORY

Sharks have ruled the oceans for millions of years, but there's evidence some have swum far from the sea to unexpected inland locations. In 1916, sharks killed two people in New Jersey's Matawan Creek, located some 11 miles from the ocean. In 1937, fishermen in Alton, Illinois, 600 miles from the Gulf of Mexico up the Mississippi River, captured a five-foot-long shark.

MOST RECENT SIGHTING

In 2007, two fishermen caught a five-foot-long, 130 pound bull shark--along with half a dozen smaller sharks--in the Atchafayla River in Simmesport, Louisiana, some 160 miles from the ocean. They also reported seeing another shark they believed could have been 10 feet long and 300 pounds.