Fox sharks, fox sharks, thresher sharks, thresher shark. These marine predators differ from other shark species by the unusually long upper lobe of the caudal fin. It is not known for certain when and why Mother Nature rewarded the ancestors of fox sharks with such a strange tool, but modern fox sharks successfully use their tail to effectively hunt for prey - a medium-sized schooling fish.
The fox shark, or sea fox, is a unique representative among the shark community. This is the only shark that uses an unusual weapon to hunt for prey - its own tail.
The fox shark owns the tail perfectly. Acting with it, like a flail during the threshing of grain, she stuns the fish, so that then calmly eat it.
The hunting of the fox shark for fish looks like this: at first it circles around the school of fish, driving them into an increasingly dense pile. In this case, the movements of the tail fin of a fox shark resemble the movements of a whip in the hands of a cowboy.
As a result, gradually, the fish are driven away more and more densely, and the shark begins to jam the fish with its powerful tail. The fox shark greedily swallows the stunned fish. This "sea cheat" has an excellent appetite, and she has to work hard to fill her stomach. In some cases, after filling the stomach and not wanting to miss the prey swimming in a stunned state on the surface of the sea, the fox shark regurgitates excess food from the stomach and begins the feast again. The usual exorbitant shark greed for food.
In such a hunt, several fox sharks (usually a pair) often take part, which, acting together, achieve the best and fastest results in the extraction of food.
Promotional video:
During the hunt for mobile fish, it often jumps out of the water (during one observation, the pelagic shark jumped out five times in a row).
An interesting detail - this fish is often caught on the hook by anglers precisely by the tail fin, since it strives to stun the bait, as a result of which it gets hooked on the tackle.
The English name for the fox shark is thresher shark, which translates as a thresher shark, which it received precisely for its unique way of hunting.
It should be noted that the common fox shark Alopias vulpinus has two more sisters that make up the genus Alopias. These are the big-eyed fox shark and the pelagic fox shark. These two types of predators are less common than the common fox shark, but they have many similar external characteristics.
The big-eyed fox shark is a deep-sea species of fox shark. It is distinguished by huge eyes that allow the predator to distinguish prey in the darkness of the depths. It has the same tail fin design as the common fox shark - the upper blade reaches half the length of its entire body.
The pelagic fox shark is a smaller representative of long-tailed sea predators and this species lives, as the name implies, in the pelagia, i.e. away from the coastline. It is rarely found in coastal waters. The main distinguishing feature of the pelagic fox shark from the common fox shark is that the upper lobe of its caudal fin is much narrower, more reminiscent of the whip of a whip. In addition, she is significantly inferior in size to her relative.
For catching a fox shark, the same fishing methods are usually used as for catching marlin. Any edible fish can be used as bait. The bait can either be lowered deeply or allowed to drift. You can try using artificial baits used to catch marlin. It is known that fox shark meat was used as bait for catching other sharks.
Fishing fishermen hate this shark, as it often inadvertently falls into their nets and, trying to free itself, tears them to shreds.
Fox sharks are considered potentially dangerous to humans, due to their large size and dangerous "tail weapon". They often swim nearby divers and divers, however, attacks on people by these sharks have not been recorded. At least, having researched many sources of information about these sharks, I could not find facts confirming the belonging of fox sharks to cannibals. But many ichthyologists classify fox sharks as dangerous shark species for humans. It is difficult to imagine that a person can supplement the diet of this shark, since it has very small teeth and a small mouth.
In addition, these sharks are extremely shy and usually prefer to retreat when trying to get close to her. But, as we have already understood, any shark, like any marine animal, whose size is commensurate with human size, poses a potential threat to people, regardless of whether the facts of the attack were recorded or not.
During underwater filming, scientists discovered that the fox shark uses its tail fin to flush the sardines off the shallows. This prudent use of the tail fin during hunting, which was previously only seen in mammals such as dolphins and killer whales, means sharks are smarter than scientists thought.
Simon Oliver, lead researcher for the fox shark research and conservation project, and his colleagues studied sharks off the coast of Cebu, an island in the Philippines. Oliver has been with the University of Liverpool and has been observing animals since 2005. But the first time he saw a shark hunt was when divers reported that they had watched them in the Philippines. “I immediately dropped everything and went there,” he says.
During the hunt, the shark first enters the school of fish, smoothly moving its tail. Then she sharply strikes her tail, swinging it like a catapult in a 180 ° arc. All this happens in one third of a second, fast enough to stun the fish and create a shockwave (see picture below). Each hit can stun up to seven sardines, so Oliver thinks this is the most efficient way to hunt in terms of energy expenditure.
Oliver argues that food shortages forced sharks to hunt near the surface of the water in the daytime, allowing scientists to see the phenomenon. He also notes that due to industrial fishing, the number of sardines in this part of the ocean is very limited.
Research conclusively proves that fox sharks hunt with their tail. This is quite natural, because they have a rather long tail. But the decline in the sardine population can lead to the death of this species. We still know little about what else fox sharks can feed on, and this is hardly their only hunting tactic. - Nigel Hussey, Oceanographer, University of Windsor, Ontario.
Research is confident that fox sharks are smarter than biologists thought. “There is a lot of evidence for this,” he says. "The shark's intelligence allowed them to develop a relatively complex and effective hunting strategy."
Although predators hunt in small groups, like dolphins, Oliver doesn't think this can be called social cooperation.