Tuesday, August 24, 2010

What is swimming in our rivers?

Ohio River

It's beautiful summertime and that means long, hot, sunny days,...... a tall glass of iced lemonade, ...............sunglasses (if you want to be really cool, they should be RayBan), ....................flip flops,................... beach towels.................. and bikinis.




(For those of you who have hopelessly lost that bikini figure,.......or you just can't stand the thought of butt floss in your crack,.......a t-shirt, cut-offs, and swim shoes are acceptable. Consider that tid-bit my contribution to fashion advice on this blog. Now you know why I write about the strange and mysterious.)
We are heading to the beach and lots of frolicking in the stunning deep blue of the ocean, the foam of the frothy waves as they crash upon the shoreline, and the building of sand castles just beyond the reach of the lapping salty water.
All is well,.............. we have managed to put the horror and the misery of the world behind us and just enjoy the day, laying on the carefully chosen and the most perfect spot on the beach.

Then we hear it.





A scream.


Our hearts begin to beat wildly, as every image of the greatest movie ever made comes flooding into our memory.






Jaws.

I've seen it,......I know you have too. If for some reason you haven't,.............you MUST SEE THIS MOVIE. I have seen it so many times I know the lines. Remember,............ " We're gonna need a bigger boat." 

The book that the movie Jaws was based on, was inspired by a long series of shark attacks in Matawan, New Jersey. The shark started feasting in the ocean coastline and made his way into the river system where numerous people were attacked and killed. A Great White shark was captured and blamed for the rash of dead humans, but experts today agree that it was most likely a Bull shark that devoured the unfortunate victims.

So mumbling under our breath, we pack up our beach side encampment and head back to our long searched for parking spot, because we are not sticking around to find out what all the screaming is about,........at least I'm not.
(Normally,... I am very brave and would stay to help a person in any sort of duress,.........but when it comes to sharks,..........my bravery shrinks up so small,........you could fit it into a coin purse.)

So out to the car, where we head for the cold moving waters of the river. Along the way, we pick up some inner tubes to add to our beach supplies and proceed to find the perfect water -side spot. Once the float is ready, we place our selves into the cool darkness of the river and drift lazily down the water way.
Nothing to worry about here,.......right?

Bull Shark



Wrong.



This paranormal blog is all about telling you the absolute truth concerning the unseen, strange, wild, and spooky things in our world. Well, this is one of them.


Did you know that the Bull shark regularly swims in our rivers and is quite comfortable and at home in it's fresh water environment? This deadly predator prefers to patrol shallow and relatively warm waters, looking for his next meal,......and out of the most deadly sharks to humans, Great Whites and Tiger sharks being the other two,.......the Bull is the most fatal to human beings.


It's the Bull's choice of sticking to shallow water, that puts this creature into contact with humans time and time again.


The Bull shark is assertive, territorial and highly erratic in it's behavior,.............. and he has been found as far north as Illinois, Indiana and Long Island, New York. On the Pacific side of North America, the Bull shark has been found all the way up to Los Angeles, including most of the river systems.


We know that Bulls like hiding out at the mouth of rivers, where the water is churning heavily as it dumps it's freshwater contents into the ocean, making visibility precarious. Now, thanks to a Monster Quest show on the History Channel, we know that our worst "Jaws" nightmares are now swimming happily in our river systems.


It seems as if the Bull shark will travel any route where the water will accommodate it's size. This creature has been found trying to wiggle it's girth through a stream, and has made it's way 2,600 miles up the Amazon River. Shockingly, a number of Bull sharks call the fresh waters of Lake Nicaragua, their permanent home and they reached this destination by jumping the rapids of the San Juan river!


It appears that the Bull shark has the ability to control it's bodily system and make internal adjustments to the fresh water that it is in, by urinating more often to keep the balance.

Bull sharks, like most sharks, eat by opportunity. Whatever is in it's vicinity, that it can catch, it will eat. On the menu for this toothy predator, is fish, birds, turtles, any unfortunate wandering mammal, other sharks, crocodiles that are smaller than itself, crustaceans and,.............. us humans,......when it can find one.

People who contend that a shark doesn't want to eat you,..... are foolish. Their claim of, "Oh,....the shark bit me by accident,........it really wanted to eat something else,......as after it bit me it swam off" -------- are absolutely ridiculous. The shark is a swimming and eating machine. When you are in the water,.....you are food. The shark bumps, bites then swims a short distance away as an act of self preservation. The prey animal goes into the throws of death after being bitten and thrashes and pummels about. So,....in an effort to protect it's much needed eyes,....the shark allows the prey to bleed out it's flailing energy, for the most part,...... before continuing on with it's meal. This is usually the time when a human can get away,....as reported by the victims who have survived an attack.

In India a steady diet of humans keeps the sharks in the Ganges River, full and content. The people in the region regularly take their dead to the river's edge and float them out to the deeper water. The Bull shark hears dinner bells when it sees a human form and makes short work of the corpse.


A Bull shark swimming and living in the river systems of the world is completely unexpected. We are not conditioned to think SHARKS, when we go into the fresh moving water of the river. That speculation will have to change, as we now know,..................that SHARKS are indeed patrolling our rivers!

The sharks being seen vary greatly in size,........from babies being born in the Heartland region of the United States,.......to specimens over 10 feet in length.


In Alton, Illinois,....600 miles inland from the Gulf of Mexico, a 5 foot long Bull shark was caught by two fishermen in the Mississippi River.


During the summer of 2007, a 5 foot long, 130 pounds, Bull shark was caught in the fishing nets of Allen Kimble and Clyde Doufour, in Simmesport, Louisiana,......160 miles from the ocean. A total of six sharks were caught in one day in that area of the river system alone.


A full grown Bull shark can reach sizes of up to 12 feet long and top the scales at around 700 pounds. Boaters in numerous areas of our inland river systems, report seeing Bull sharks at least 10 feet in length, regularly haunting the river shore lines.

500 miles north of Boston, Massachusetts, in the great Canadian North, a massive shark stalks the St Lawrence River system. It is a Greenland shark, known to reach sizes of 20 feet in length! It is twice the size of a full grown bull, measuring in at 2,000 pounds on the scale!


Once thought to only inhabit the deep abyss, at a mile or more under the ocean's surface, scientists are confused by the numerous sightings of this ponderous creature in the relatively shallow waters of the river.


The Greenland shark feeding menu, includes just about everything you can imagine. Once again,...... they are opportunistic feeders.

Much preferring cold, deep, dark waters, they are usually found under ice caps in areas of ocean around the Arctic Circle, Greenland, Iceland, and are also found in Northern and Western Europe. However,.... they have mysteriously been making their way into the Northern river systems, in larger numbers recently, looking for food. The murky and obscure visibility in the river complex, gives the sharks all the advantage,.......as the shark is perfectly camouflaged.


In 2003, eyewitness and diver, Jean-Yves Forest, was at a depth of about 100 feet in the St. Lawrence,..... when he witnessed a shark so massive over his head,........ that it blocked out the sun!

Are Greenland sharks interested in eating humans?......Well,.. in 1940, a park warden reported being stalked by a hulking Greenland while he was walking across the frozen water ways, and could clearly see the shark following every step he took.


Somehow Monster Quest was able to find divers to go into the St. Lawrence River with almost zero visibility,.......... and search for an animal that has the ability to eat a horse, is the size of a Great White and is always hungry!

A massive shark is spotted almost immediately on the expedition, equipment monitors. When the divers descend into the water they find the bones of a Blue Whale, the largest animal on the entire planet,... laying eerily on the river bottom. The group summarizes that as the whale was decaying, the Greenland sharks most likely feasted upon the easy meal.


As the divers explore the river underside, thirty feet from the shoreline, they are completely unaware that a large shark is picked up by the ROV camera, as the visibility in the water is less than 10 feet.


Incredibly, the divers go down a second time, this time in the dark of the night, when the sharks are at their most aggressive in their search for food. Once again, the ROV camera quickly finds a large shark. The divers try to remain in the lighted safety zone created by the use of high powered underwater illumination units,......however to see the shark they will have head out into the deep blackness of the water.


As visibility is extremely limited, the divers have no idea that another image of the shark is being picked up by the robotic camera,..........and it is very close to the men.

Contact is lost as the remote camera pulls away and top-side is temporarily unaware of the security of the men. Moments later surface bubbles are seen as the divers return to the rest of the crew and find out just how close they actually were to this predatory monster.


On the third decent into the river the Greenland shark is spotted. She is an impressive 12 feet in size and covered with scars, nicks and tears of varying degrees. These particular sharks are thought to live up to 200 years and may be the longest living vertebrates currently on the planet. As you gaze upon this creature, she has the appearance of something that has just swam out of the dinosaur era,.......she literally looks like a moving museum specimen.


The shark heads towards the dock and is only a few yards from the shoreline!


It is hard to imagine that this creature regularly feasts on seals, large mammals, and other ocean dwelling creatures,......as it swam very slowly along the river bottom.


The divers did not get attacked and returned to the surface to relay their account.


So now that we know that the great watery predator of the ocean is swimming in our rivers,...............I recommend you proceed very carefully in water where you can't see you feet when immersed.



Myself,.........I'll stick to the light blue water of a backyard swimming pool.


Want to see a video clip of sharks in our rivers by Monster Quest?
There are four other parts to this film, by Monster Quest. You will find them on the side bar of Youtube.
Very creepy. I guarantee you, it will change your swimming habits,.....when it comes to dark water.

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