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Cookiecutter shark are n’t very neighbourly . Like most sharks ( or any nautical animal , for that matter ) , cookiecutters roam the ocean looking for food . But unlike typical meat eater , these sharks do n’t kill their fair game — they just take a bite and move on .
And for the first time , scientists have found evidence that these small sharks even go after one of the world ’s most fearsome vulture , thegreat snowy shark . Great White River are about 10 time the size of it of a cookiecutter shark .
Two pictures of the white shark with bite and scar inflicted by a cookiecutter shark. To the right of the fresh bite (see arrow) is a suspected crescent-shaped scar from an earlier bite.
Divers in a shark tank off of Guadalupe Island , which is about 150 naut mi ( 240 kilometers ) western United States of Mexico ’s Baja California peninsula , took a photo of a great white sporting a novel insect bite from a cookiecutter , as documented in astudy published recentlyin the journal Pacific Science . It ’s the first photographic evidence of such a bite , say discipline author Yannis Papastamatiou , a maritime biologist at the Florida Museum of Natural History .
" Animals at the top of the food chemical chain can still get attack by thing a heap lowly than them , " Papastamatiou told OurAmazingPlanet .
Cookiecutter sharks leave a very classifiable scar when they sting ; their specialised jaw countenance them to " scoop out out a hemispherical plug of physique from their prey , " accord to the study . The sharks ' name comes from the uniformity of the bite , which looks " like you took a biscuit cutting tool to some dough , " Papastamatiou say . " ' Ice - emollient - scoop shark ' would be technically more accurate , but it does n’t have quite the same gang to it . "
Two pictures of the white shark with bite and scar inflicted by a cookiecutter shark. To the right of the fresh bite (see arrow) is a suspected crescent-shaped scar from an earlier bite.
The sharks have been know to raven on a wide salmagundi of marine animals , including swordfish , whales , orcas andeven a human swimmer — and now , large ashen shark . " This really shows there ’s no maritime predator that ca n’t be attacked by this little shark , which is impressive , " he say . scientist do n’t imagine bites from the cookiecutters can in earnest harm these large predators .
The cookiecutter shark ( Isistius brasiliensis ) can grow up to 20 inches ( 50 cm ) long , while not bad whites can reach lengths of almost 20 foot ( 6 meters ) , fit in to the International Union for Conservation of Nature . Cookiecutter sharks range throughout the cosmos in tropical and semitropical waters . They often plunk during the day and come near the surface at night . One specimen was caught at a depth of 9,840 feet ( 3,000 m ) , Papastamatiou said .
But how smart is it to assault declamatory predator 10 times your size ? There ’s almost no grounds of how often the cookiecutter ’s bold scheme flush it , Papastamatiou said . However , researchers found one cookiecutter shark in the stomach of a largebluefin Opuntia tuna , suggest the tactic is n’t foolproof .
