Florida angler Jack Appleton has caught and tagged loads of sharks — a lot of them from shore. Operating an area land-based shark fishing constitution, he’s tangled with bull sharks, tiger sharks, and most different species that inhabit the Gulf of Mexico. However Appleton says his “coolest shark to this point” is a uncommon piebald lemon shark that he caught over the weekend.
Appleton shared an Instagram video of the oddly coloured lemon shark, which he described as “extremely uncommon,” on Saturday. The shark is generally white with darkish peppering on its physique and black fin ideas. “By chance got here throughout this magnificence whereas fishing for some bulls,” Appleton wrote within the put up, referring to bull sharks. He mentioned in a remark that he caught it off Captiva Island, and the video clip exhibits him touchdown the lemon shark on a dock.
After lassoing the shark and dragging it onto the dock, Appleton noticed that the shark had been tagged — which suggests he wasn’t the primary particular person to catch it. These tags assist researchers observe sharks as they develop and journey the oceans, and Appleton helped fill in these gaps by taking measurements of the piebald lemon shark and sending them to NOAA, together with the precise location the place the shark was caught. He then fastidiously unhooked the shark and launched it again into the Gulf. (This was in accordance with state laws, as lemon sharks are protected in Florida and “should be launched directly when fishing from shore.”)
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A number of commenters have famous how unusual it’s to see a shark with piebaldism. The genetic situation is characterised by a scarcity of melanin, which causes pigmentation and provides animals their pure coloring. It’s seen all through the animal kingdom, from horses and canine to black bears and deer. And whereas it’s uncommon in wild populations, hunters see (and generally harvest) piebald whitetails each fall.
Sharks are a unique story, nonetheless. In response to Rob Chapman, a fishing influencer who re-shared Appleton’s video, “there’s solely been two beforehand recorded variations of a piebald shark EVER.”
Picture through Instagram
In March 2022, a bunch of scuba divers got here throughout a piebald nurse shark in Honduras. This marked the primary documented statement of piebaldism in that specific shark species, based on a examine printed later that 12 months within the Journal of Fish Biology.
Whereas it’s unattainable to confirm, one other one of many two beforehand recorded cases that Chapman mentions might have been the identical piebald lemon shark that Appleton caught. Commenting on Chapman’s put up, Instagram consumer Michael Sipos claimed to have caught an identical wanting piebald lemon shark off Captiva Island in 2022. He didn’t point out whether or not he tagged the shark earlier than releasing it, and neither Appleton nor Sipos responded instantly to requests for remark.
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Both approach, Appleton mentioned he was grateful to see such a uncommon fish and add to the small pool of analysis round piebald sharks.
“There’s loads of loopy creatures within the ocean,” Appleton wrote. “You spend sufficient time with bait within the water one thing cool is sure to occur.”