Hurricane Helene is being blamed for more than just hundreds of deaths – the storm is believed to have pushed a shark from the ocean to a lake.
A baby bull shark was recorded swimming in Lakes Park in Florida, miles away from sea.
The video shared by Instagram user @primeepoxyworks shows the gray animal’s distinctive dorsal fin and tail as it swims close to the surface of the lake, then disappears in the murky water.
It did not appear to be under any distress, despite being a saltwater predator in freshwater.
Susannah Cogburn, who studies them at Florida Gulf Coast University, theorized that Helene was how the shark would up in a habitat that was not its own.
‘It definitely could be related. Looking at the geography of where Lakes Park is, the most probable thing that happened is it came up through Hendry Creek,’ she told WBBH.
‘Especially with all the flood water, it could have really you know pushed that shark there, and then when the water receded it just stayed in Lakes Park.’
Lakes Park is at the end point of Hendry Creek, which is connected to Estero Bay that feeds into the Gulf of Mexico.
She said that bull sharks are ‘really unique’ because ‘they have this adaptation that allows them to live in fresh and saltwater environments’.
Bull sharks could be under stress living in freshwater but are able to survive as long as they eat.
‘As the only shark in the lake, it seems like they should have an ample amount of food to feed on,’ she said.
As of Wednesday, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission had not indicated it would move the shark back into the ocean.
On Thursday, the Helene death toll reached 200, with more casualties still expected. It is the deadliest storm to strike America’s mainland since Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
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