The title for this post is probably a bit of an emotional roller coaster for animal lovers and conservationists, giving us both good and bad news in the same sentence. The Ganges shark (Glyphis gangeticus) is most likely one of the rarest species of shark that is believed to still be alive, and like its name implies, you can find this shark in the Ganges river that flows through India and Bangladesh, as well as Brahmaputra River that flows through the same countries (plus parts of China).
A sketch of the Ganges shark. Image is Public Domain.
If you are at all familiar with these rivers, then you might already be thinking that this is a freshwater shark, and that is absolutely correct. We have a few sharks that live in freshwater, but travels to the ocean to reproduce, but the Ganges shark is believed to be a fully freshwater shark that can complete its entire life cycle in a body of freshwater.
I wish I could go into some cool details about the biology of this shark, but the truth is that no one really knows much about the shark at all! What we know is basically that it looks a whole lot like a bull shark (Carcharhinus leucas), one of the most aggressive sharks in the world, and bull sharks have often been mistaken for being a Ganges shark. There are a few morphological differences, such as the Ganges shark having a bit rounder head, but if you just want to know what it roughly looks like, then see the bull shark below.
A bull shark. Image is Public Domain.
Molecular research have shown that freshwater sharks found in rivers in Pakistan, Java, Borneo, and Mayanmar could very well be the same species as the Ganges shark, so there is potential that it is not as rare as first expected. However, it’s not like we have an abundance of the shark in these places either.
The last sightings of the Ganges shark
As said in the title, no one has even seen the “true” shark in over a decade, and the last proof of this shark was obtained in 2001 when a scientist managed to photograph its jaw in a remote Indian village. Actually, the only real sightings of a live shark dates back to 1969, and this claim is even debated! However, there are three different specimen of the shark in museum collections, but all of these were collected in the 19th century, so it has been a very long time since a scientist were able to study this in detail.
If we include the sharks found in Pakistan, Java, Borneo, and Mayanmar, then we have a few more specimen, but these sharks have not been seen in the last decade as well. The total museum collection when including these sharks as well is up to roughly 17 individuals, but there is much debate about which of these that are actually Ganges sharks, and which should be classified as their own species.
Finding the Ganges shark in a fish market in Mumbai
Marine biologists and ecologists often visit fish markets to get an idea about the marine biota that lives in the area, and this is precisely how the Ganges shark was found for the first time since 2001. Researchers from the Save Our Seas Foundation visited the Sassoon Docks in Mumbai fish market and found an interesting shark. They realized that this might be the elusive Ganges shark, but sadly they were too late to get a good sample due to the fact that it was already prepared to be sold as food.
A photo from the Sassoon Docks fish market in Mumbai, India. Image posted as Public Domain.
However, they were able to measure it to be 266cm long, count its teeth, and do some basic measurements, which actually helps out with learning more about the species since most of even the basic information is unclear at this point.
At least it is still out there
All in all, they didn’t really get that much information compared to what would have been ideal, but one good thing about finding it in a fish market is proof that it is still extant. It is probably extremely rare, and the IUCN Red List has it classified as Critically Engangered with a decreasing population size. But even small numbers is better than none, and discoveries such as this one could hopefully spark some much needed conservation programs for this freshwater shark.
Thanks for reading
Sorry for the lack of pictures, but there are not all that many pictures that I could use without breaching copyright permissions, and it turns out that it is not easy at all to get photos of one of the rarest sharks in the world! Anyway, I do hope you enjoyed the post, and feel free to leave a comment below if you got any questions.
If you want to learn more about it, then check out this nice metastudy that looks at all the information we know about this shark. It's not a lot, so it's easy to learn all we know about it! So read it, and you can call yourself a Ganges shark expert. Hehe.
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