With their monolithic size , rows of razor sharp teeth , and emotionless eye , many moot great white sharks to be the ultimate predator . But even these unbelievable animate being have to watch their backs , as to begin with this year more and more dandy bloodless shark carcass were beingwashed up on South African beach .
This yr , five carcase of the formidable huntershave been washed up , with the stiff rate in size from 2.7 to 4.9 meter ( 9 to 16 feet ) . All of them had a standardised brutal wound inflicted on them , with a hole run down between their pectoral fins and the liver . As it call on out , the shark were being hunted by a team of killer whale , of late spotted in the area when the sharks were found utter .
It is not unusual for sea wolf to target shark as prey . Different population of the maritime mammalian are sleep with to specialise in dissimilar foods , with those off the magnetic north - western coast of North America focusing on fish , while some subpopulations in Antarctica specialize in minke whales , for lesson . Orca off the South African sea-coast have been known to target sharks and ray before , plucking out the liver while leaving the rest of the carcase to drift forth .
It is conceive that they target the liver of elasmobranchs ( as shark and rays are technically bed ) , due tothe organ ’s high - vim content . Unlike most Pisces the Fishes , sharks do n’t have a swim bladder to help with irrepressibility . Instead , they ’ve evolve an fossil oil - rich liver , which has the treble office of aid them move up and down the water column , while providing them with vim . It seems , however , that the Orcinus orca have also visualise this out .
What is more telling is that the killer whales are managing to take down an almost 5 - meter ( 16 - foot ) great whitened shark . It is thought , establish on observational grounds of the mammals hunt , that the whale capitalize on the unknown physiological crotchet ascertain in shark cognise astonic immobility .
This is where , when turned upside down , sharks and beam of light go into a kind of trance . Long acknowledge about by humans studying shark , who exploit this natural nation of paralysis for measure and chase the marauder , the killer whale on the face of it know about it too . One observation off the west coast of the US recounts how a seedcase of killer whales rammed into the side of a enceinte white , pink it over , before have it upside down . Ifsome shark speciesstop swim , they can not breathe , and so the hulk may in effect submerge the predatory animal , before devour the carcase .
Why these carcass have of a sudden started appearing this year is not known , but researchers are sure to keep an eye out for more .
[ H / T : The Guardian ]
