One of the hippo documentaries on one of the cable channels showed various critters that live in the water with the hippos. One of them was a fish which was the narrator referred to as a freshwater shark. I’m pretty sure they said that it wasn’t a “true shark,” but they didn’t mention what its real name was. To me it looked more like a shark-shaped carp, mouth situated on the bottom.
Any ideas???
Black Shark Cichlid, perhaps?
http://westerncichlids.com.au/wp-content/gallery/gallery-images/BlackShark-1.jpg
Pretty close in appearance, but these fish were big. 10-20 pounds, maybe.
Hmmm, maybe some kind of catfish then?
Or it could actually be a shark. Bull Sharks are known to travel quite a long way up into rivers, and it happens in Africa.
[QUOTE=Mangetout]
Or it could actually be a shark. Bull Sharks are known to travel quite a long way up into rivers, and it happens in Africa.
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Yeah, that would be my take. There are no exclusively fresh water sharks, but there are some that enter fresh water, and the bull is one of them. A bull shark swam up a river in MA in the early 1900s and got some folks swimming there.
I thought that there was an ocean shark (off the east coast of Africa) that mates in fresh (river) water?
The pups are born in fresh water, then when they grow to the right size, they swim out to sea.
Edit: Hmmm. That might be the Bull shark.
Nope. But thanks.
There is a freshwater shark in the Ganges. Where the hippo’s elsewhere?
This page also suggests members of the Labeo genus, which are apparently carp. Unfortunately there is little wikipedia info on them.
[QUOTE=mlees]
There is a freshwater shark in the Ganges. Where the hippo’s elsewhere?
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The only hippos in Asia are in zoos.
Also, it wasn’t a shark.