Preying on the Ocean's Top Predator: Shark Found Cut in Half Starts Countless Speculations

A shark split in half on a beach has fueled suspicions that a much larger creature attacked it.

Reddit's users have been speculating about what caused the site's demise.

Someone posted a terrible photograph of the gigantic shark in two pieces on the forum's r/sharks subreddit as if another beast had attacked it.

The user stumbled and discovered the site while on a beachwalk, according to The Daily Star.

"Saw this sad man yesterday" on a beach on Oak Island, Canada, he remarked, prompting hundreds of upvotes and prompting others to speculate about what may have attacked it.

A Shark in Half

(Photo : Image from R/Sharks )

The initial user posted a photo of the shark and speculated on what would have caused it to splinter, while others speculated on a bigger shark assault.

"Based on the nose form, white markings, and black backside of the dorsal," a user claimed to have recognized it as an "Atlantic Sharpnose."

However, rather than attempting to identify the species, many other users were left scratching their brains as to how it died.

Among the conjecture, one user dismissed rumors of a propeller accident.

"This was not a boat disaster! This wasn't any propeller," the poster responded to one comment.

"This wasn't your typical coral reef." It wasn't Jack the Ripper, either."

"It was a shark, a huge white shark," another person said. Although not a great white, I have witnessed several sharks being devoured by other sharks. "There's always a larger fish out there."

Another shark would do it every day, said a third that backed up the story that the smaller shark was sliced in two by a shark assault.

Also Read: Frankenstein Fish Spooks Social Media

What Could've Happened

(Photo : Dan Kitwood via Getty Images)

Professor Mark Meekan of the Australian Institute of Marine Science went on to tell National Geographic's WILD new documentary Cannibal Sharks that all sharks are cannibals, even the dangerous great white sharks.

Elasmobranchs (sharks, skates, and rays) occur in various forms and sizes, with over a thousand species known to science. Many of them are prey for other species, usually sharks or rays. Even the most iconic shark species, the fearsome great white (Carcharodon carcharias), is vulnerable to predation.

Preying on the Ocean's Top Predator

Sharks are the ocean's top predators, but that doesn't mean they don't have foes . Sharks are notorious for their aggressiveness, although there are few predators in the ocean. Even larger sharks, such as the Great White Shark, are preyed upon by other water animals.

Although sharks are not endangered, some fishermen hunt them and chop off their dorsal fins to produce shark fin soup. It would be disastrous for marine life if sharks became extinct.

Sharks keep other fish populations in control; if all the huge predators, such as sharks, disappeared, there would be too many fish or smaller sharks with insufficient predatory abilities to hunt effectively.