The Bull

Moreton Bay, 1.2 Km off the coast of Brisbane, Australia

​The Australian Eagle Stingray drifted lazily along the ocean floor, passively searching for food. Its fleshy pectoral fins arced gracefully up and down, mirroring the waves some thirty feet above. The flap of its fins gave the appearance that the ray was flying through the murky water in Moreton Bay, just off the southeastern coast of Australia.

​Every now and then, the stingray would stop and emit a jet of water through its gill slits, exposing an area a foot in diameter on the ocean floor. As clouds of sand and sediment rushed outward like debris from a crater, the ray would scoop up whatever mollusks or crustaceans had been exposed, regurgitating the harder, indigestible parts. The ray stopped its search, however, when the electro-sensory organs on its snout alerted it to a predator nearby. It quickly dove for the ocean floor, submerging itself in the sandy bottom. Only its eyes were exposed as it scanned the murk for signs of the unseen menace.

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​Just as the ray had detected his presence, the bull shark in turn honed in on the stingray. The massive ten-foot male propelled itself forward with long swipes of its caudal fin. It moved its short snout ever so slightly from side to side, relying on its senses of smell and electrolocation as guides. Known as the ampullae of Lorenzini, a network of electroreceptors on the underside of the shark’s snout could detect the minute electrical fields emitted by an animal before it could see or smell it. Currently, these receptors told the male that there was food to be had along the ocean floor. Instincts forged over millions of years guided the shark through the low visibility in the bay. It could smell the remnants of the ray’s recent meal and sense its electrical output. This information directed the shark right to the ray.

​The bull shark cruised along the ocean floor, its pectoral fins cutting jagged swaths through the sand at irregular intervals. Its prey was close. The electrical field around the ray was like a homing beacon. Just as the male was about to pass over it, the stingray darted out from its hiding spot in a desperate attempt at outrunning the shark. Sand erupted as the two creatures took part in nature’s oldest tradition. The ray was agile, cutting sharp angles in an erratic attempt to outmaneuver the shark. The male was persistent, though, intent to stalk and wait for the opportune moment to strike.

Without warning, the shark’s body convulsed in a burst of motion, the rapid waves of its caudal fin propelling it forward as it rammed its snout into the stingray. The ray tumbled down into the sea floor, momentarily disoriented. It scrambled about, trying to regain its bearings.

But a moment was all the shark needed. The large male opened its maw, rows of serrated teeth encircling the left flank of the ray as it bit down, severing fatty flesh and sinewy muscle. The ray struggled, doing its best to free itself, but to no avail. The male bit down again, piercing the ray’s heart. Blood gushed from the dying animal, sending the bull shark into a frenzy. Several shakes of its head and another large bite ended the life of the stingray.

With half a dozen more large bites, the bull shark swallowed the last of its meal. The male briefly considered a stray chunk of flesh slowly floating down to the ocean depths before whipping his tail and continuing his trip through the warm, shallow waters of Moreton Bay.

The male had been born in these waters and made them his home. He was birthed in the freshwater canals of the Brisbane River, where he had lived his first seven years. Bull sharks are diadromous, meaning they are one of very few species that can survive in both freshwater and saltwater environments. Oftentimes bull sharks are birthed in freshwater, far from most of their would-be predators in the ocean. Once they mature, they venture out from their estuaries and into the larger bodies of salt water. Such was the case with the large male. At ten feet long, he was the biggest male in the area. Smaller males scattered whenever he emerged from the murk, and he was mostly unbothered in his reign of these waters.

Which is why a sudden eruption of his electrolocation put him on full alert.

His ampullae engulfed his being, drowning out every other aspect of his world. Angered at the overflow of impulse, he launched his tail in frustration and veered his course toward the new challenge, intent on silencing the intruder in his waters.

Shorncliffe Pier, Bramble Bay, on the coast of Brisbane

​“Hey, Nikki, toss me your phone! My turn to be DJ!” Nicole Plante laughed and underhanded her phone to Jennifer, her bikini-clad friend. The two were enjoying the sunny weekend evening on the pier. Shorncliffe is known as one of the longest piers in Australia, jutting out over a thousand feet from land. It’s a well-known hotspot for fishing around sunrise and sundown. The two friends were admiring the crimson sunset as they cast their lines out, seeing what they could hook off the pier. So far, the two women had hooked several small bream and a large whitish-pink snapper fish. The few clouds in the sky were painted shades of bright red from the sun creeping back behind the horizon, bloody streaks of sunlight cutting across the ocean.

​Jenn, satisfied with the song selection, placed Nikki’s phone atop one of the wooden poles dotting the edge of the pier, and the two friends allowed themselves to get lulled into the calming repetition of casting and reeling, moving in time with the music pumping through the phone’s speakers.

​Following ten minutes of nothing, Nikki got a bite from a very strong fish. She tightened her grip on her rod and started fighting for control, doubling over with effort. Jenn put her rod down on the pier to watch the action. Nikki’s knuckles went white as she ripped on the reel. The fish gave a sharp tug, causing the line to snap and sending Nikki back on her heels. As she stumbled, the fishing rod knocked into her phone. It clattered down onto the pier, dancing precariously on the edge. Nikki dropped her rod and spurred herself forward, diving in an effort to catch the device. But she was too late.

​The phone dropped just past her reach and into the water below, still blaring the country station they had been listening to. “Shit!” Nikki shouted, examining her skinned forearm. A stinging streak of skin glistened red as a reward for her efforts. She pushed herself up, flicked her sandals off and rummaged through her bag for her goggles.

​“Nikki, what are you doing? You going after it?”

​“Why not? It’s in a waterproof case and the water’s only about twenty feet deep here. With the music still playing I’ll have no issue finding it,” Nikki replied as she eyed the water over the edge of the pier. She gripped the strap of the goggles tight as she launched herself outward, the harsh shock of water meeting her as she sunk under the waves. Three strong kicks brought her back to the surface. She put the goggles on and put her head just under the surface. Sure enough, Nikki could hear Luke Combs’ newest single pulsing through the water. She lifted her head back up and threw a thumbs up to her friend on the pier. Nikki cringed at the sting from the salt water against the fresh cut on her arm. She then inhaled sharply and dove down toward the ocean floor, silently cursing herself for being so clumsy.

​The bull shook his head sharply, the assault on his senses increasing as he got closer. He was just about to start an attack on the unfamiliar bombardment of impulses when something else registered. Water flowing in through one nostril and out the other confirmed what his ampullae of Lorenzini were telling him: there was blood in the water, and a wounded animal near the surface was heading toward him. Already irritated and on full alert, the male changed course.

​Nikki stopped once she felt the pressure increase and quickly equalized by pinching her nose and blowing a quick breath, forcing air out her ear canals. She felt the temperature start to drop as she swam deeper toward the pulsating music. She was a strong swimmer and at home in the water, as well as an experienced diver. Diving down to retrieve her phone wasn’t an issue for her, especially since she didn’t need to comb the ocean floor for it. Sounds travel far easier below the surface of the water than above, so it sounded like she was in the back row of a concert rather than a few feet away from her phone. She equalized once more as her ears were bombarded by the acoustics of the music. A fresh plume of silt and sand billowing slightly outward betrayed the resting place of her phone. She angled downward and started moving her hand through the debris until she felt her waterproof phone case.

​Just as Nikki was turning for the surface, she was nudged in her side. Alarmed, she whirled around, looking for the source. She hadn’t heard anything, so she was sure it wasn’t another swimmer. She strained to see through the hazy water. Without warning she was bumped again, this time from behind. Nikki turned and her heart leapt into her throat.

​A dull gray wall of hard skin stalked through the murk. A caudal fin gracefully swung from side to side as the bull shark turned to circle behind her. Stifling a scream, Nikki fed off of the adrenaline coursing through her and fled for the surface. She tried to keep the brownish-gray behemoth in front of her as she swam for the surface, having to pivot as the monster circled her. She would lose sight of the shark intermittently in the dark waters before it would reappear far closer than before. It was trying to circle behind her, forcing her to expend more energy and swim slower.

Her lungs were starting to ache. By her guess, she was only halfway back to the surface. She was running out of air, as her chest was starting to involuntarily heave with effort. Panicking, she knew she had to swim for her life.

The male had been trying to get behind the creature to move in for an attack. The strange electrical pulses were still raging around him, keeping him provoked and bristling. Suddenly, the prey started to flee, making for the surface. Not wanting to miss an opportunity, the male charged and clamped its jaws around the creature’s lower appendages, tearing through muscle and bone with a sickening crunch. The male tugged once before releasing his grip and returning to the predatory circling.

Nikki felt something tug on her leg. She looked down and released what little air she had left in a muffled scream, the water around her taking on a shade of pinkish red.

The creature was bleeding and wounded. His senses were being relentlessly pelted. The bull shark turned to finish off his adversary.

The last thing Nikki saw before her vision blurred out was a long conical snout charging at her. The fire in her lungs was mercifully quelled by a rough embrace. Her last thought was that the music had stopped. All was quiet.

The foreign pulses had stopped. The male, content that he had conquered the threat, swallowed Nikki’s upper torso in one motion as it turned and drifted back out into Moreton Bay. As it turned, its tail flicked Nikki’s phone, which bore a tooth that had pierced through its screen. It came to rest soundlessly on the ocean floor beneath the remnants of its owner.