Are Sharks Found in Great Lakes?

The Great Lakes are also known as the Laurentian Great Lakes and the Great Lakes of North America. They are a group of deep freshwater lake located in east-central North America, interconnected with Lakes Superior (Huron), Ontario, Erie and Michigan. These lakes are home to the world’s largest freshwater volume.

Sharks, a wonderful species of sea creature, are well-known for their size and strong predatory instincts. Many people wonder if sharks can live in the Great Lakes. This article will answer your question. Let’s go!

Are Sharks Found in Great Lakes?

Although most sharks don’t live in the Great Lakes , small fishes find this body to be their natural habitat. These aquatic animals are curiously able to use the Great Lakes’ absence of sharks to make the Great Lakes a safe haven for their offspring and themselves. Every other shark can be found in coastal and shallow marine areas, except for the bull shark, which marine biologists might not allow to be examined due to its physiological modifications.

Why Sharks Don’t Like Freshwater

Sharks are not territorial like other sea fishes, which can migrate through waters from temperate, polar and tropical regions. While most aquatic animals can live in freshwater, sharks are more comfortable in salty or brackish waters. Sharks cannot live in water bodies that aren’t salty or brackish because it can cause damage to their cells and cause bloating. This can lead to death.

Adrian C. Gleiss, a renowned scientist, has found a deterrent factor that sharks can use to resist adapting to freshwater habitats. This is according to a study. Adrian C. Gleiss et.al. used hydro-mechanical modeling. Adrian C. Gleiss et al. suggested that freshwater habitats have a negative value, which is translated into buoyancy.

Sharks rely on their lipid-rich liver for buoyancy assistance when they are in their natural habitat. This aid is often seamless due to the physical properties of salty and brackish waters. Swimming in freshwater habitats means that the liver can’t provide the same buoyancy aid as in saltwater. The water’s physical properties already set the buoyancy at a lower negative value. This is because freshwater bodies have a lower density than saltwater.

According to recent reports, the bull shark is the only shark that can survive in freshwater.

How can bull sharks survive in the Great Lakes

Bull sharks belong to the elasmobranch fishes and are believed to have a special adaptation that helps them survive in freshwater bodies. Salt retention is one such adaptation.

Bull sharks have some adaptations that make their physiological structure more complex than other elasmobranchs fishes. This adaptation allows them to retain the recycled salt in their bodies. This adaptation allows them to use their salt retention capabilities when they prey on small fish in the Great Lakes.

What 5 Great Lakes are?

The Laurentian Great Lakes are so incredibly vast that they consist of five water bodies and even connect to the Atlantic Ocean via the Saint Lawrence River. Lake Superior, Lake Michigan and Lake Huron are the lakes that make up the group. Lake Erie is also included. These waters are not only a refuge for aquatic life but also help to transport cargo around the globe.

Lake Superior

The lake is at an incredible elevation and holds more than 10% of the freshwater surface in the world. The average temperature of the lake is 59 degrees F. This makes it impossible for sharks to survive. The huge border of Lake Superior runs through Ontario to its North wing, while the United States of America sticks to it along with the west- and south wings.

Lake Michigan

According to history, the name of the lake is derived from the Ojibwe term misikami-mishigi, which means great water. Lake Michigan is the Great Lakes’ second largest member. Its huge volume makes it a formidable lake. The volume of Lake Michigan is 1,175 cubic yards. It covers 22,405 sq. miles. Over time, Lake Michigan has been a major maritime player. It helped with cargo transport and berthing at the ports in Milwaukee and Green Bay.

Lake Huron

French explorers named Lake Huron after locals who lived in the area. They were called the Huron people. Lake Huron shares its Eastern and Northern borders with Ontario. The United States shares its western and southern borders.

Lake Erie

Lake Erie is the Great Lakes’ shallowest member in volume. Despite being the fourth-largest Great Lakes in terms of its surface area, it is the eleventh biggest lake worldwide.