# Are there sharks in the Great Lakes? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 2, 2006, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-sharks-in-the-great-lakes/355075 "2006-05-02T07:17:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2006, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-sharks-in-the-great-lakes/355075/81 "2006-08-03T00:00:41Z")
Ooooooh no, my little friend. To me the question is, does **anyone** who listens to All Things Considered, OR reads the Straight Dope ( or both. Venn Diagram !!! šŸ˜ƒ ) believe for one SECOND that this manā€™s name really is **Orion Briney**??? Please. Cā€™mon. Sit a moment. Have a cool drink. Here, let me put this cool damp cloth across your sweaty brow. See? All better. Briney. -snerk- ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2006, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-sharks-in-the-great-lakes/355075/82 "2006-08-03T03:43:27Z")
[QUOTE=Cartooniverse] Great whites love killing dolphins, you know. [/QUOTE] Cite? ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2006, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-sharks-in-the-great-lakes/355075/83 "2006-08-03T11:25:37Z")
[QUOTE=The Chao Goes Mu] My partner will sneak up behind me and do the Jaws theme then pinch my neck. She knows all the hairs on my body will stand on end. Cruel woman. [/QUOTE] You Sir are a lucky man! ---
**Author:** ![Cluricaun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2006, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-sharks-in-the-great-lakes/355075/84 "2006-08-03T13:11:12Z")
[QUOTE=dropzone] the question now is: how long before the Asian Carp gets protected to save American jobs? [/QUOTE] As long as they stay in the Illinois river, well itā€™s too late to do anything about it, but the predictions that Iā€™ve read about what could happen if the Asian Carp makes itā€™s way into Lake Michigan say it could decimate the commerical salmon and lake trout fisheries, which are much bigger than any market for Flying Water Rats could ever be. I donā€™t think theyā€™ll ever protect them in any real way. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2006, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-sharks-in-the-great-lakes/355075/85 "2006-08-03T13:48:28Z")
[QUOTE=Cluricaun] The harvesting of sturgeon (at least in the Midwest) is heavily controlled and regulated. They require a special separate tag (I think itā€™s $100 in Wisconsin), and you can only harvest one a year. Most of the species are [endangered](http://dnr.state.il.us/lands/education/fish/sturgeon.htm),so there isnā€™t really a lucrative market for their eggs. [/QUOTE] For the record, and in spite of the name of my town, sturgeon have been extinct in Lake Michigan/Huron for over a century. Lake Winnebago has been stocked with sturgeon, however. I donā€™t know why Michigan hasnā€™t ā€“ it is regularly stocked with such non-indigenous fish as salmon. Maybe itā€™s because sturgeon are ugly-looking. ---
**Author:** ![mks57](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9bd4f/32.png) [@mks57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mks57)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2006, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-sharks-in-the-great-lakes/355075/86 "2006-08-03T14:08:04Z")
[QUOTE=The Chao Goes Mu] I _still_ wonā€™t swim in the deep end of a pool at night. Night swimming in a lake? Forget it. [/QUOTE] My Uncle enjoyed pointing out the large snapping turtles that lived in the lake, and how they could ā€œtake your foot clean-off with one biteā€, if they felt like it. Now, I canā€™t go in the lake without thinking about those damn turtles. ---
**Author:** ![Cluricaun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2006, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-sharks-in-the-great-lakes/355075/87 "2006-08-03T14:37:43Z")
[QUOTE=Musicat] For the record, and in spite of the name of my town, sturgeon have been extinct in Lake Michigan/Huron for over a century. Lake Winnebago has been stocked with sturgeon, however. I donā€™t know why Michigan hasnā€™t ā€“ it is regularly stocked with such non-indigenous fish as salmon. Maybe itā€™s because sturgeon are ugly-looking. [/QUOTE] Iā€™ll agree that there are more asthetically pleasing fish out there, but make no mistake, there are still [remnant populations](http://www.fws.gov/midwest/sturgeon/lake_michigan.htm) of lake sturgeon swimming in Lake Michigan. ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2006, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-sharks-in-the-great-lakes/355075/88 "2006-08-04T02:23:57Z")
[QUOTE=Princhester] Cite? [/QUOTE] Glad to ! šŸ™‚ [Cite # 1](http://starbulletin.com/2003/06/26/news/story8.html) > [@](#): > > Another reason Naughton believes it was a great white is because for the past two years something has been preying on spinner dolphins, and biologists believe the predator was a great white, he said. [Cite # 2](http://library.thinkquest.org/C0120120/text/content.php?c=g&&l=en) > [@](#): > > Food > The diet of a juvenile great white shark consists of fish, rays and other smaller sharks. Once they have matured their preferred diet is seals (including elephant seals, fur seals, harbour seals and grey seals) and sea lions but a wide variety of other foods are eaten especially in areas where there are very few seals. These include small toothed whales, **dolphins (including bottlenose, common, harbour, dusky and humpback dolphins)** ( my bolding ) [Cite # 3](http://www.monkeymiadolphins.org/abstracts.htm) > [@](#): > > 1. Mann J and Barnett H. Lethal tiger shark (Galeocerdo cuvieri) attack on bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops sp.) calf: Defense and reactions by the mother. Marine Mammal Science. 15(2): 568-575. > > Tiger sharks ( Galeocerdo cuvier) are known to prey on bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops sp.) (Bass et al. 1975, Corkeron et al. 1987, Cockroft et al. 1989, Simpfendorfer 1992), but no attacks have been directly observed. The few observed shark attacks on delphinids involved mostly injured or dead individuals (e.g., Wood et al. 1970, ross and Bass 1971, Leatherwood et al. 1972). **We document here an unusual event involving a lethal attack by a tiger shark on a bottlenose dolphin calf and subsequent defense of the calf carcass by the mother. The mother-calf pair was part of a longitudinal study; thus we present systematic observational data on maternal behavior and associates in the weeks before and following the attack.** ( my bolding ) I will admit it is not common by any means, and so I withdraw the implication that my statement made. However, great white sharks do attack and eat dolphins, as cited. Cartooniverse ---
**Author:** ![Baffle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/dec6dc/32.png) [@Baffle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baffle)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2006, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-sharks-in-the-great-lakes/355075/89 "2006-08-04T03:04:43Z")
Some interesting facts: You can get from Lake Huron to Lake Ontario through Lake Simcoe via the[Trent-Severn Waterway](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trent-Severn_Waterway), thus bypassing the Falls. A shark coming up the Mississippi River can access Lake Michigan through the [Chiago Sanitary and Ship Canal](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_Canal). You may be able to traverse Northern Ontario rivers from Lake Nipigon up to Hudson Bay (I had a road map that claimed this was possible, but have no substantial proof). I think a previous poster made this claim as well, so Iā€™d be interested in a cite with further detail. Iā€™d also like further detail on the claim regarding crossing the Continental Divide at Lake Isa. ---
**Author:** ![chorpler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chorpler/32/2888_2.png) [@chorpler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chorpler)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2006, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-sharks-in-the-great-lakes/355075/90 "2006-08-04T03:09:15Z")
[QUOTE=Cartooniverse] I will admit it is not common by any means, and so I withdraw the implication that my statement made. However, great white sharks do attack and eat dolphins, as cited. [/QUOTE] I watched a program on the Discovery channel a few years back that said that dolphins are the main food source for sharks in the Mediterranean Sea. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-sharks-in-the-great-lakes/355075.md?page=4)