There is an Omnivore shark that likes to eat plants

Sharks are archetypal killers – often the predators of their environment, known to shred prey. However, the bonnethead shark (Sphyrna tiburo) swim his own way. Scientists have discovered that it is an omnivore, the first known example of shark-eating plants.

It's not just a nibbling either. The bonnethead, which tends to live around the coasts of areas of South America such as Florida, California, Mexico and Brazil, does not turn to plants only when it does not occur. there is no meat. According to the study, published in Acts of the Royal Society B, more than 62.1% of the body mass of a shark-barrel is made up of herbaria.

It was well known in science that the beasts ingest seagrass. What the researchers did not know, was the intention behind the act. To find the answer, scientists captured five Florida Keys wild sharks and placed them in an aquatic laboratory.

The laboratory offered a 90% seagrass diet and 10% squid for sharks. The water was treated with arbon-13, a traceable isotope, which was integrated into the seagrass. If and when the sharks eat the meadows, they could be found.

carnivores can physically eating plants, it's not unusual to find them in the interior, but digestion is another problem. However, when scientists kept the five sharks in a seagrass diet, their weight increased. Adult sharks ate plant fibers, as did baby green turtles, which are omnivorous as they grow, but move to plants exclusively in adulthood.

"Bonnetheads has a very similar digestive system to other closely related species that are strictly carnivorous, so the fact that they act as omnivores is really remarkable," says Samantha Leigh, co-author of a study and expert in ecology. and evolutionary biology at the University of California, Irvine, at AFP.

The next step for researchers is to better understand the evolution of bonnetheads. If they have digestive tracts similar to those of other sharks, how did they end up eating plants? It's a shark problem that can not be eliminated.

Source: motherboard