Two brothers caught a juvenile tiger shark while fishing from a beach in Falmouth, Massachusetts, in late July. Nate and Nelson Rouette, longtime sport fishermen who live in Massachusetts, were on a late-night fishing trip when they made the catch. They typically seek brown sharks, which are more common, and were shocked by the find.
The shark measured five feet long. Nate Rouette, social media manager for On The Water magazine, said: 'I saw those horizontal lines, indicating it was a tiger shark, which was super cool.' He also said: 'It's a tiger, it's a tiger shark!' The brothers released the shark after catching it and described the experience as a thrill.
Length of the juvenile tiger shark caught off Massachusetts.
Tiger sharks are a tropical species predominantly found in warmer, southern waters such as the Caribbean Sea. Scientists said the shark's appearance off Falmouth is an indicator of warming seas caused by climate change. John Chisholm, adjunct scientist at the New England Aquarium's Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life in Boston, said juvenile tiger sharks have been spotted more often in northern waters in recent years. He attributed this to rising temperatures of global seas, which appear to have made the Atlantic Ocean off New England more hospitable to the species.
Maybe they are coming up here because conditions are right. There's food, there's warm waters.
Chisholm said young tiger sharks are historically less common than adults in northern waters, making the brothers' discovery surprising. He added: 'Maybe it's becoming a nursery -- that's one of the issues that we will investigate.'
Tiger sharks are among many kinds of sea life that have been trending north in recent years as seas have warmed. For example, sightings of great white sharks off Cape Cod have been increasingly frequent, and great whites have also been seen off New Hampshire and Maine. Scientists attributed this shift to factors including a higher abundance of seals, which the great whites prey on. Other sea animals, including black sea bass, also appear to be moving north because of the warming ocean.
People are definitely seeing more species that indicate that.
Tiger sharks can grow to more than 15 feet (4.6 meters) and 1,400 pounds (635 kilograms). They eat a wide array of other ocean life, including fish, crustaceans and birds. They are also known for sometimes eating man-made items such as old license plates and shoes that are later found in their stomachs. Adult tiger sharks are more dangerous to humans than most shark species, though unprovoked fatal bites are rare.
