The hurricane brought a wall of seawater crashing down on Florida’s Gulf Coast.
But the saltwater was not the only thing to wash ashore.
And a Florida man made this scary find in a lake after this awful situation from the hurricane.
A predator from the ocean swept into a Florida lake
Hurricane Helene wreaked havoc up and down Florida’s Gulf Coast after the storm slammed in the Big Bend region.
The storm created a record storm surge for some cities on the Gulf Coast as it brought a wall of seawater up to eight feet high in some locations.
A lake in Fort Myers, Florida got a new guest as a result of Helene’s storm surge.
Residents spotted a baby bullshark swimming in Lakes Regional Park in a body of water that is usually inhibited by alligators and turtles.
Laila Moreira recorded a video of the shark swimming near the rocky edge of the lake.
Welcome to Florida! Over the weekend, a baby bull shark was seen swimming in the lake at Lakes Park in south Fort Myers. The lake is already known to have its share of alligators and turtles. pic.twitter.com/Kt5BB7HgQ4
— NBC2 News (WBBH-TV) (@NBC2) October 1, 2024
“Alligators, snakes, you always see that, but no shark,” a local resident told NBC 2 News.
“I think that’s crazy,” another resident said.
The shark’s journey from the ocean to a lake
Researchers at Florida Gulf Coast University confirmed that it was a bull shark.
Florida Gulf Coast University graduate student Susannah Cogburn studies sharks at the college’s Walter School.
“Bull sharks are really unique,” Cogburn explained. “They have this adaptation that allows them to live in fresh and saltwater environments.”
They have been known to travel up freshwater rivers that run into the ocean.
A bull shark managed to swim up the Mississippi River all the way to the St. Louis, Missouri area.
There is no telling how the shark made it into the Lakes Regional Park, but Cogburn suspects it was the storm.
Hurricane Helene flooded the lake after it brought three to five feet of water into the Fort Myers area and winds of up to 70 miles per hour.
“It definitely could be related,” Cogburn said. “Looking at the geography of where Lakes Park is, what probably happened is it came up through Hendry Creek. All the flood water could have pushed that shark there, and then when the water receded, it just stayed in Lakes Park.”
The Gulf of Mexico connects to Estero Bay which runs into Hendry Creek that leads to Lakes Park.
Bull sharks prefer to reside in saltwater, but they can survive in the freshwater of the lake.
Cogburn explained that it would be a little hard on the shark but that it should be able to survive in the lake.
As the only shark in Lakes Park, it should not have any competition for food there.
“Which, as the only shark in the lake, it seems like they should have an ample amount of food to feed on,” Cogburn said.
There are no plans to move the bull shark from the lake right now.
Bull sharks are responsible for the third most attacks on humans by sharks behind tiger sharks and great whites.
A bull shark would be a unique and dangerous guest of the lake.
DeSantis Daily will keep you up-to-date on any new developments in this ongoing story.
