This Mako Shark Had a Sea Lion’s Head in Its Stomach
Take a trip inside the stomach of a 1,300 pound mako shark
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What does one of the world’s largest known mako sharks, a 1323 pound giant, eat? A whole sea lion, apparently. From off the coast of California, this giant mako shark was caught by three fishermen back in June, as part of a TV reality show, says the Los Angeles Times. The catch was controversial, but it was legal. And now has some potential scientific benefit: the shark’s giant stomach was transferred from a storage facility in Gardena, Calif., to a research station run by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in San Diego, so that scientists could learn about this massive mako.
Digging through the partially digested remains of a shark’s previous meals gives insight into the inner workings of the food web. But it’s also just sort of really cool looking, in a gross-but-fascinating kind of way. Just…maybe don’t watch shark biologist Antonella Preti dig through this shark’s lunch while you’re eating your own.
More from Smithsonian.com:
Top Ten Stories About Sharks Since the Last Shark Week
Shark Week Proves We Are Fascinated by Sharks, So Why Do We Kill So Many of Them?
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