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Nature can be a brutal place. Imagine, if you will, that we humans needed to be constantly aware of our surroundings because there could, at any moment, be an animal that would eat us. That’s what most of the animal kingdom deals with on a daily basis. They live for three things: to find food, reproduce, and to avoid getting eaten, not necessarily in that order. In the clip you see above, a small lemon shark survives a barracuda attack. A massive barracuda.
“It’s no wonder that only a very small percentage of marine life will ever see adulthood,” reads the caption on Nature Is Metal, where the clip appeared. “Falling prey to something larger, faster and with more hunting experience is just how it goes most times.”
Baby sharks especially are thrown into the fire almost immediately. Sharks — either viviparous or oviparous — don’t stay with their mothers for any length of time at all. Instead, they’re forced to fend for themselves immediately. Considering the amount of predators that will happily feed on a baby shark, you can see why making it to adulthood is a major feat for the species.
Couple that with the fact that humans kill a staggering amount of sharks each year, and you might have a different outlook on sharks. Lemon sharks like the one you see above are a common target of commercial fishers looking to sell and trade the shark’s fins and meat. They also pose almost no threat to humans. The International Shark Attack File lists 10 unprovoked lemon shark bites, none of which were fatal.
So when the baby lemon shark escaped from a particularly quick attack from a giant barracuda, it should be counting its lucky stars that it lived to swim another day.
Editor’s Note: Learn how to minimize chances of an adverse shark encounter as well as critical information about shark behavior, shark personalities, shark language, what to do in the unlikely event a shark bites you, and more in 20-plus video lessons in Ocean Ramsey’s Guide to Sharks and Safety. Early access pricing expires soon, so enroll now.
