Updates on putative bull shark (Carcharhinus leucas) occurrences in the upper Mississippi River Basin of North America
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47193/mafis.3612023010101Keywords:
Freshwater elasmobranchs, extralimital, historic records, hoaxAbstract
A previous paper in this journal by Shell and Gardner assessed various factors around the exploration of the Mississippi River by bull sharks (Carcharhinus leucas Müller and Henle, 1839) based on two twentieth-century occurrences. Recent evidence has suggested one of these occurrences is a probable hoax. Here, we provide a correction to our earlier paper, as well as additional comments on extralimital euryhaline vertebrates in the Mississippi River system, the environmental and historical contexts for their exploration into riverine systems, and suggest steps for any future effort to detect the usage of these river systems by bull sharks.
Downloads
Metrics
Author Biographies
Ryan Shell, Department of Vertebrate Paleontology, Cincinnati Museum Center, 1301 Western Ave, 45203 - Cincinnati, USA
Nicholas Gardner, Mary F. Shipper Library, Potomac State College, West Virginia University, 101 Fort Avenue, 26726 - Keyser, USA
References
Alderman J. 2014 Sep 12. Bull sharks swim in Potomac waters. WAMU 88.5 (Washington, DC). https://archive.ph/Bp6dC [archived webpage].
Alive with sharks. 1896 Nov 29. The Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN); 11. https://archive.ph/k5Kjf [archived webpage].
Another shark, (Squalus Carcharies, or Great White Shark,) three feet and two inches in length, has been taken in the Mississippi, opposite the residence of John Siegmund, Esq., about two miles below this city. 1829 Aug 27. Southern Galaxy (Natchez, MS); 3. https://archive.ph/AfV6A [archived webpage].
Best RC. 1983. Apparent dry-season fasting in Amazonian manatees (Mammalia: Sirenia). Biotropica. 15 (1): 61-64. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/2388000
Bom RA, van de Water M, Camphuysen KCJ, van der Veer HW, van Leeuwen A. 2020. The historical ecology and demise of the iconic Angelshark Squatina squatina in the southern North Sea. Mar Biol. 167: 91. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-020-03702-0
Brevé NWP, Nagelkerke LAJ, Buijse AD, van Tuijin TJ, Murk AJ, Winter HV, Lenders HJR. 2022. Historical reconstruction of sturgeon (Acipenser spp.) spatiotemporal distribution and causes for their decline in North-Western Europe. Biodivers Conserv. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-022-02381-1
Broom B. 2015 Jun 6. Mississippi’s river monsters. Clarion-Ledger (Jackson, MS). https://archive.ph/Slpy6 [archived webpage].
Brown L. 2010 Aug 7. Memphis woman photographs stingray in Mississippi River. Action News 5 (Memphis, TN). https://archive.fo/No36T [archived webpage].
Burr BM, Basile CM, Adams GL, Nicholson MC. 2004. Exotic aquatic and terrestrial animals in the Hoosier-Shawnee ecological assessment area. In: Thompson FR, editor. The Hoosier-Shawnee Ecological Assessment. St. Johns (MI): U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, North Central Research Station. p. 236-267.
Callejas-Jiménez ME, Alcérreca-Huerta JC, Morales-Vela B, Carrillo L. 2021. Spatial and seasonal variations in surface water temperature and salinity in the Mexico-Belize riverine estuary: possible comfort conditions for manatees? Mar Mamm Sci. 37: 1454-1474. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/mms.12838
Carlson JK, Ribera MM, Conrath CL, Heupel MR, Burgess GH. 2010. Habitat use and movement patterns of bull sharks Carcharhinus leucas determined using pop-up satellite archival tags. J Fish Biol. 77: 661-675. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1095-8649.2010.02707.x
Cascio K. 2017. Carcharhinus leucas [Internet]. Animal diversity web. Ann Arbor (MI): University of Michigan. https://archive.ph/kRZP9 [archived webpage].
Castro JI. 2011. The sharks of North America. New York (NY): Oxford University Press.
Chason R. 2018 Aug 15. After 42 years of fishing, he’s never seen anything like this 310-pound bull shark. Washington Post (Washington, DC). https://archive.ph/yedRS [archived webpage].
Cochran PA. 2007. Additional notes on the history of American eels (Anguilla rostrata) in the Upper Midwest. American Currents. 33 (3): 21-22. http://www.nanfa.org/ac/notes-american-eels-upper-midwest.pdf.
Cochran PA. 2015. Big fish stories: analysis of historical newspaper data on size of lake Sturgeon (Acipenser fulvescens) in the Lake Michigan Basin. Mich Acad. 42 (1): 26-39. DOI: https://doi.org/10.7245/0026-2005-42.1.26
Cochran PA, Elliott RF. 2012. Newspapers as sources of historical information about lake sturgeon (Acipenser fulvescens Rafinesque, 1817). Arch Nat Hist. 39: 136-146. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3366/anh.2012.0066
Cousins S. 2021 Jul 15. The real story behind Alton’s bull shark legend. Telegraph (Alton, IL). https://archive.fo/ykPB6 [archived webpage].
Curtis TH, Adams DH, Burgess GH. 2011. Seasonal distribution and habitat association of bull sharks in the Indian River Lagoon, Florida: a 30-year synthesis. Trans Am Fish Soc. 140: 1213-1226. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00028487.2011.618352
Curtis TH, Parkyn DC, Burgess GH. 2013. Use of human-altered habitats by bull sharks in a Florida nursery area. Mar Coast Fish. 5: 28-38. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/19425120.2012.756438
Daly R, Smale MJ, Cowley PD, Froneman PW. 2014. Residency patterns and migration dynamics of adult bull sharks (Carcharhinus leucas) on the east coast of southern Africa. PLoS ONE. 9 (10): e109357. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0109357
Deutsch CJ, Reid JP, Bonde RK, Easton DE, Kochman HI, O’Shea TJ. 2003. Seasonal movements, migratory behavior, and site fidelity of West Indian manatees along the Atlantic Coast of the United States. Wildl Monogr. 151: 1-79. https://www.jstor.org/stable/3830830
Disspain MCF, Ulm S, Draper N, Newchurch J, Fallon S, Gillanders BM. 2018. Long-term archaeological and historical archives for mulloway, Argyrosomus japonicus, populations in eastern South Australia. Fish Res. 205: 1-10. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fishres.2018.03.009
Dosay-Akbulut M. 2008. The phylogenetic relationship within the genus Carcharhinus. C R Biol. 331 (7): 500-509. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.crvi.2008.04.001
Drymon J, Schweiss K, Seubert E, Lehman R, Daly-Engel T, Pfleger M, Phillips, N. 2021. Swimming against the flow-environmental DNA can detect bull sharks (Carcharhinus leucas) across a dynamic deltaic interface. Ecol Evol. 11: 22-28. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.7101
Dukes J. 2016. Getting to the bottom of Lake Michigan’s legendary ‘shark attack’. [accessed 2022 July 26]. https://www.wbez.org/stories/getting-to-the-bottom-of-lake-michigans-legendary-shark-attack/939d4ecf-2dcc-4450-9ba7-5ca51a106e82.
Ebert DA, Dando M, Fowler S. 2021. Sharks of the world: a complete guide. Princeton (NJ): Princeton University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9780691210872
Gausmann P. 2021. Synopsis of global fresh and brackish water occurrences of the bull shark Carcharhinus leucas Valenciennes, 1839 (Pisces: Carcharhinidae), with comments on distribution and habitat use. Integr Syst: Stuttgart Contr Nat Hist. 4 (1): 55-213. DOI: https://doi.org/10.18476/2021.423083
Gausmann P, Hasan V. 2022. New inland records of the bull shark Carcharinus leucas from Sumatra, Indonesia. Mar Fish Sci. 35 (3): 437-444. DOI: https://doi.org/10.47193/mafis.3532022010905
Gunter G. 1938. Notes on invasion of fresh water by fishes of the Gulf of Mexico, with special reference to the Mississippi-Atcha-falaya River system. Copeia. 1938 (2): 69-72. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/1435693
Günther A. 1874. A contribution to the fauna of the River Tigris. Ann Mag Nat Hist. 4 (14): 36-38.
Hasan V, Samitra D, Widodo MS, Gausmann P. 2021. A new inland record of the bull shark Carcharhinus leucas (Müller & Henle 1839) from peninsular Malaysia. Sains Malays. 50 (10): 3153-3158. DOI: https://doi.org/10.17576/jsm-2021-5010-26
Hedgpeth D. 2015 Sep 4. 8-foot-long bull shark caught in the Potomac River. Washington Post (Washington, DC). https://archive.ph/9oIIw [archived webpage].
Heithaus MR, Delius BK, Wirsing AJ, Dunphy-Daly MM. 2009. Physical factors influencing the distribution of a top predator in a subtropical oligotrophic estuary. Limnol Oceanogr. 54: 472-482. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4319/lo.2009.54.2.0472
Heupel, MR, Simpfendorfer CA. 2008. Movement and distribution of young bull sharks Carcharhinus leucas in a variable estuarine environment. Aquat Biol. 1: 277-289. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3354/ab00030
Heupel MR, Yeiser BG, Collins AB, Ortega L, Simpfendorfer CA. 2010. Long-term presence and movement patterns of juvenile bull sharks, Carcharhinus leucas, in an estuarine river system. Mar Freshwat Res. 61: 1-10. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1071/MF09019
Hrabik R. 2021. 1995 Report of a shark in a power plant return flow channel at Rush Island, Mississippi River, Missouri, determined to be a hoax. American Currents. 46 (3): 3. https://archive.org/details/ac-46.3.draft-1-for-editors [archived copy].
Keevin TM, Lopinot NH. 2019. Historical record of an alligator gar, Atractosteus spatula (Lacépède, 1803), captured on the floodplain of the Middle Mississippi River at Columbia, Illinois, USA. J Appl Ichthyol. 35: 871-875. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/jai.13925
LaFrance A. 2015 Sep 30. How many websites are there? The Atlantic. https://archive.ph/yTL1q [archived webpage].
Lea JSE, Humphries NE, Clarke CR, Sims DW. 2015. To Madagascar and back: long-distance, return migration across open ocean by a pregnant female bull shark Carcharhinus leucas. J Fish Biol. 87: 1313-1321. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/jfb.12805
Lopes RP, Pereira JC, Dillenburg SR, Tatumi SH, Yee M, Figueiredo AMG, Kinoshita A, Baffa O. 2020. Late Pleistocene-Holocene fossils from Mirim Lake, Southern Brazil, and their paleoenvironmental significance: I - vertebrates. J South Am Earth Sci. 100: 102566. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsames.2020.102566
Manatee examined at Memphis Zoo. 2006 Dec 12. Action News 5 (Memphis, TN). https://archive.fo/dtBoe [archived webpage].
Matich P, Nowicki RJ, Davis J, Mohan JA, Plumlee JD, Strickland BA, TinHan TC, David Wells RJ, Fisher M. 2020. Does proximity to freshwater refuge affect the size structure of an estuarine predator (Carcharhinus leucas) in the north-western Gulf of Mexico? Mar Freshwat Res. 71: 1501-1516. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1071/MF19346
McClenachan L. 2009. Historical declines of goliath grouper populations in South Florida, USA. Endang Species Res. 7: 175-181. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3354/esr00167
McCormick H. 1963. Shadows in the sea: the sharks, skates and rays. Philadelphia (PA): Chilton Books. [accessed 2022 July]. https://archive.org/details/shadowsinseashar00mcco.
Montoya RV, Thorson TB. 1982. The bull shark (Carcharhinus leucas) and largetooth sash (Pristis perotteti) in Lake Bayano, a tropical man-made impoundment in Panama. Environ Biol Fishes. 7: 341-347. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00005568
Niella Y, Raoult V, Gaston T, Goodman K, Harcourt R, Peddemors V, Smoothey AF. 2022. Reliance of young sharks on threatened estuarine habitats for nutrition implies susceptibility to climate change. Estuar Coast Shelf Sci. 268: 107790. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecss.2022.107790
Officials: “Intense hunt” for Memphis manatee has concluded. 2006 Oct 25. Action News 5 (Memphis, TN). https://archive.fo/nhuwb [archived webpage].
Ortega LA, Heupel MR, Van Beynen P, Motta PJ. 2009. Movement patterns and water quality preferences of juvenile bull sharks (Carcharhinus leucas) in a Florida estuary. Environ Biol Fishes. 84: 361-373. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10641-009-9442-2
Ortiz RM, Worthy AJ, MacKenzie DS. 1998. Osmoregulation in wild and captive West Indian manatees (Trichechus manatus). Physiol Biochem Zool. 71: 449-457. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1086/515427
Palsson J, Astthorsson OS. 2017. New and historical records of the ocean sunfish Mola mola in Icelandic waters. J Fish Biol. 90: 1126-1132. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/jfb.13237
Pemberton M. 2011 Oct 6. Orcas make rare trip into fresh water in Alaska. The Seattle Times (Seattle, WA). https://archive.ph/I3gfJ [archived webpage].
Rigby CL, Espinoza M, Derrick D, Pacoureau N, Dicken M. 2021. Carcharhinus leucas. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2021: e.T39372A2910670. DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2021-2.RLTS.T39372A2910670.en
Romero A. 2006 Nov 13. Manatee found in Mississippi River, then lost, remains mystery to experts. Jonesboro Sun (Jonesboro, AR); A6. https://academicworks.cuny.edu/bb_pubs/957/.
Shell R, Gardner N. 2021. Movement of the bull shark (Carcharhinus leucas) in the upper Mississippi River Basin, North America. Mar Fish Sci. 34 (2): 263-267. DOI: https://doi.org/10.47193/mafis.3422021010607
Smart JJ, Chin A, Baje L, Green ME, Appleyard SA, Tobin AJ, Simpfendorfer CA, White WT. 2016. Effects of including misidentified sharks in life history analyses: a case study on the grey reef shark Carcharhinus amblyrhynchos from Papua New Guinea. PLoS ONE 11 (4): e0153116. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0153116
Springer JW. 1980. An analysis of prehistoric food remains from the Bruly St. Martin Site, Louisiana, with a comparative discussion of Mississippi Valley faunal studies. Mid Cont J Archaeol. 5: 193-223. https://www.jstor.org/stable/20707857.
Thomerson JE, Thorson TB, Hempel RL. 1977. The bull shark, Carcharhinus leucas, from the Upper Mississippi River near Alton, Illinois. Copeia. 1977 (1): 166-168. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/1443522
Thorson TB. 1972. The status of the bull shark, Carcharhinus leucas, in the Amazon River. Copeia. 1972 (3): 601-605. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/1442947
Werry JM, Lee SY, Lemckert CJ, Otway NM. 2012. Natural or artificial? Habitat-use by the bull shark, Carcharhinus leucas. PLoS ONE. 7 (11): e49796. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0049796
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2023 Ryan Shell, Nicholas Gardner, Robert A. Hrabik
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Authors of articles published in Marine and Fishery Sciences retain copyright on their articles, except for any third-party images and other materials added by Marine and Fishery Sciences, which are subject to copyright of their respective owners. Authors are therefore free to disseminate and re-publish their articles, subject to any requirements of third-party copyright owners and subject to the original publication being fully cited. Visitors may also download and forward articles subject to the citation requirements. The ability to copy, download, forward or otherwise distribute any materials is always subject to any copyright notices displayed. Copyright notices must be displayed prominently and may not be obliterated, deleted or hidden, totally or partially.
This journal offers authors an Open Access policy. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles, or use them for any other legal purpose within the Creative Commons 4.0 license (BY-NC-SA), without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author. This is in accordance with the BOAI definition of Open Access.
