Shark taken by bigger predator, what?

reply to post by borntowatch

In my opinion an Orca for sure. Nothing else that we know of can do that. For those that do not know an Orca is the very top of the food chain in the ocean. They are dolphins, not whales. They love shark liver and discard the rest. They are awesome.
There are only 2 kinds out of the 5-6 different species that eat sharks. Each kind of Orca has their own diet.
Orcas also have never eaten a human. They have injured and killed SeaWorld ppl but thats cool. They are dolphin smart, can eat great whites and dont kill or care about humans in the wild. They are our friends. Shut down Sea World and free the Orcas!

borntowatch

sweeper84
If the tag was external on the shark, is it possible that another creature took only 1 bite at the shark, and doing so, ate the tag with it?
It doesn't have to be something that eat the whole shark.

Yep something living at 600 meters depth and had a body temp of 26 degrees, stays down those depths for a week.

I dont have an answer, its just an interesting story that got me thinking

The quote from the article in the original post says " at varying depths" for a week. Whales go up and down. Orca, good little Orca. Eat those sharks for us. pet pet I think of Orcas like I do spiders in my garage. Go for it spider you have a life here if you eat bugs.

I'm thinking Sperm Whale. One crunch, one swallow and a nice BM a week later. The Sperm Whale is the biggest and baddest carnivore of the ocean, not the Killer Whale. No disrespect intended to KW's.

First, my guess is that this was a giant squid/octopus. They are a very secretive/seclusive creature that we still know very little about. Not too long ago we actually learned that they may even school to hunt, so much so that some scientists have made a case for calling these pods or packs because of the intelligence displayed more resembles that of mammals than of fish.

But back to the killer whale theory...

Perhaps if one wanted to pose the question, "How would it be possible for an orca to maintain the extreme depth, temperatures, and lack of oxygen for two weeks?" a possible solution would be to look at other animals, even warm blooded, for a possible hypothesis to be disproved. In this case, we can look towards the bear species and their hibernation patterns.

From wikipedia:
Hibernation (from Latin: hībernus, of winter) is a suppressed metabolic state that falls under the umbrella-term of torpor or dormancy. It is but one of many forms of metabolic suppression. Hibernation is a widespread and common survival strategy expressed under the threat of a metabolic energy crisis. Conversely and considering that some animals exist in this state for the greater part of the year, it could just as easily be considered the default metabolic state and up-regulation of metabolism merely a response to the availability of energy.

Is it possible that whales can hibernate? Is it possible that in order to hibernate the whale requires the extreme pressure and temperatures. The last thing most hibernating species do is take a large meal, which could provide hypothetical explanation as to why the wahale targeted such a large meal to begin with. Scientists do know that whales can cover vast spaces of unbroken top ice and ice sheets. Maybe this explains how? They eat, use the cool temperatures to force their body into dormancy, making them incredibly efficient with oxygen and calories, while they use the currents, and vary depths, to carry them; in effect sailing instead of using their tail as the primary means of propulsion. Perhaps intense pressure could actually be utilized by the whales lungs to more efficiently draw on it's last breadth of oxygen; getting use out of every available molecule of air.

That's the best hypothesis I can come up with to explain how this may be possible. It would certainly be a massive change in direction of how we think about ocean mammals. But I'm still betting this was a squid.

Edit: This hypothesis could apply to all whale species... including sperm whales, who as far as we know so far can spend up to 90 minutes underwater before surfacing.

well, believe it or not
I was down Bremer way, Bremer Bay, only a couple of years ago
While fishing on the rocks I noticed a carcass, at least 10 meters long, like a whales....only it was covered in what I would call seal fur
Hence why this story interested me and I thought it relevant to the crypto thread.

No
I never took a sample or even a photo.
I could be lying, but seriously, why would I.
10 meter carcass that looked like a seal.

Any way make of it as you will

The carcass has intrigued me as has this story.

I dont have any answers, dont believe a whale, squid, octopus...but maybe, possibly accept a bigger shark .

My money is on Gdzilla or a close relation

borntowatch
well, believe it or not
I was down Bremer way, Bremer Bay, only a couple of years ago
While fishing on the rocks I noticed a carcass, at least 10 meters long, like a whales....only it was covered in what I would call seal fur
Hence why this story interested me and I thought it relevant to the crypto thread.

No
I never took a sample or even a photo.
I could be lying, but seriously, why would I.
10 meter carcass that looked like a seal.

Any way make of it as you will

The carcass has intrigued me as has this story.

I dont have any answers, dont believe a whale, squid, octopus...but maybe, possibly accept a bigger shark .

My money is on Gdzilla or a close relation

Why would you NOT take a photo...?

(unless you had no camera or phone obviously).....in which case .run back to the car or nearby house and get one.....!!!

Regards

PDUK

WormwoodSquirm
reply to post by borntowatch

 

In my opinion an Orca for sure. Nothing else that we know of can do that. For those that do not know an Orca is the very top of the food chain in the ocean. They are dolphins, not whales. They love shark liver and discard the rest. They are awesome.
There are only 2 kinds out of the 5-6 different species that eat sharks. Each kind of Orca has their own diet.
Orcas also have never eaten a human. They have injured and killed SeaWorld ppl but thats cool. They are dolphin smart, can eat great whites and dont kill or care about humans in the wild. They are our friends. Shut down Sea World and free the Orcas!

Saying Orcas have never attacked a human in the wild and they love us is about the same as saying, orcas have never attacked a lion in the wild.
The chances of a human being in the same water as a killerwhale in the wild is just slightly above %0.
They shouldnt be viewed any different than a lion they are top of the food chain and they know it. A human is nothing to them in the water if they decide to eat you or make you a play thing on a whim thats exactly what they will do without any emotional notions of the value of a human.
Other than that I agree with everything you wrote, we dont treat Lions Orcas and thats exactly what they are lions of the ocean.

stumason

MrInquisitive
Seems like a lot of folk are not getting the point that the tracking device was never near the surface for a week, which would preclude all sea mammals.

Seems like some folk didn't read the article. The tag, after the temp spike, was recorded at varying depths, which could mean anything between the sea floor and surface. Then there is also the mention of a pod of Killer Whales near the vent that was discovered near the site of Alpha's (the shark) demise. It is entirely possible, in fact highly plausible, especially considering one of the Orca's is called A380 for good reason, that it was attacked by one.

I did read the article. I took "varying depths" and then later saying that it surfaced a week later as meaning that it didn't come near the surface until a week later. The people assuming that "varying depths" means including having surfaced (or gotten close enough to the surface to breach) are the ones stretching the interpretation of what was written.

reply to post by PurpleDog UK


Well believe it or not, at the time I didnt think much of it.
Had a camera but no phone, you get little mobile coverage down Bremer bay.

The carcass has intrigued me the more I think about it

reply to post by borntowatch


Don't think that I'm kidding, when i say this.

Giant squid.

It didn't necessarily have to eat the whole shark either, it's very possible it ate a portion of the shark the tag included.

www.ask.com...

en.wikipedia.org...:Giantsquidphoto2.png

"The giant squid (genus: Architeuthis) is a deep-ocean dwelling squid in the family Architeuthidae, represented by as many as eight species. Giant squid can grow to a tremendous size (see Deep-sea gigantism): recent estimates put the maximum size at 13 m (43 ft) for females and 10 m (33 ft) for males from the posterior fins to the tip of the two long tentacles (second only to the colossal squid at an estimated 14 m (46 ft),[1] one of the largest living organisms)"

upload.wikimedia.org...

So, yeah there are much bigger things than sharks out there.

MrInquisitive

stumason

MrInquisitive
Seems like a lot of folk are not getting the point that the tracking device was never near the surface for a week, which would preclude all sea mammals.

Seems like some folk didn't read the article. The tag, after the temp spike, was recorded at varying depths, which could mean anything between the sea floor and surface. Then there is also the mention of a pod of Killer Whales near the vent that was discovered near the site of Alpha's (the shark) demise. It is entirely possible, in fact highly plausible, especially considering one of the Orca's is called A380 for good reason, that it was attacked by one.

I did read the article. I took "varying depths" and then later saying that it surfaced a week later as meaning that it didn't come near the surface until a week later. The people assuming that "varying depths" means including having surfaced (or gotten close enough to the surface to breach) are the ones stretching the interpretation of what was written.

The is what the article says.

It stayed at that temperature, at varying depths, for about a week until it was released and floated to the surface.

Until it was REALEASED and floated to the surface. If the tag is inside of the animals stomach how is it going to breach the surface?

reply to post by Wide-Eyes


Yes, Whales do dive. But not for any longer that 2-5hrs at a time. And certainly not that deem. They need to stay within a reasonable distance with the surface.

Hi guys and girls ... I am new to ATS but thought I would add my piece.
I am the presenter/producer of "The Search for the Oceans Super Predator" and believe me .. none of the footage was dodgy.
We DID film killer whales consuming a massive squid, the external PAT (pop off archival) tag was in the stomach of something for a week and that something had an internal temp of roughly 26 degrees.
Killer whales typically have an internal temp of around 34 degrees.
Much more info if anyone is interested.
Im pulling together a full expedition for next season involving a submersible to actually visualize the seafloor and hopefully get a glimpse of our perpetrator 800 metres down.
You can post relevant info at riggsaustralia.com if you like.

cheers

Dave

reply to post by DBR6281
[more ]

Hi Dave, Welcome Aboard. I haven't had a chance to see the film. Is it going to be broadcast in America? There's hardly even any information on the Documentary on IMDB.

I tried seaching for the shark that was originally tagged almost 10 years ago? I can't find the scientific information anywhere.

It is my understanding your on a conservation mission? If you want increase the exposure, I would highly recommend getting over to IMDB and updating all the Documentary info it doesn't even have a picture.

reply to post by DBR6281


Is this documentary coming to the UK?

Megalodon.......im sure they stay deep. too deep for us to discover.

reply to post by DBR6281


Hi Dave!

Any follow up to the orcas seen in geographe bay?

Being seen near Albany is one thing, but coming round the cape is unheard of.

reply to post by AlphaHawk


Sorry about the delay in responding ... are filming in north West Oz with limited access to internet.

Killer whales are seen each winter (June-September) off Ningaloo reef which is 1200km north of Perth hunting humback whale calves, they are seen off the Abrolhos Islands some 600 kilometres north of Perth typically in October-November, off Perth/Rottnest Island around the same time then Cape Naturaliste 300 kilometres south of Perth November-December.

We encounter them near the Bremer Canyon off southern WA between February and April.
It seems possible that some of the many animals we encounter off the Bremer canyon follow and hunt humpback calves up the west coast during winter.

Interestingly, a number of the whales we encounter near the canyon are tinged yellow ... meaning they have recently come from a diatom rich environment ... like the Antarctic.

This location off southern WA is quite possibly an area where different pods of oceanic killer whales come to feed and breed each year ... if that's the case .. the location is of extreme significance.

During my obsessive searching online I have noticed off the US coast, in several locations, there are seasonal aggregations of killer whales in close proximity to deep sea hydrocarbon resources.

I dont think what I suspect is happening off Bremer is unique ... just not common knowlege.

A bit of food for thought at least.

reply to post by GeeBee


National Geographic have the rights to air the film throughout Europe.
Apparently it will be called "Hunt for the Super Predator" over there.
May be worth giving NGT UK a prod to see where they are at with its release.

reply to post by SasquatchHunter


The film has also been picked up by Smithsonian for North USA ... it will also be called "Hunt for the Super Predator".
Once again, I dont know when they are planning to air it.