By IBTimes Staff Reporter: Subscribe to IBTimes's RSS feed
February 14, 2012 4:48 PM EST
Coral reef scientists got more than they bargained for during a fish survey off the Great Keppel Island off the east coast of Australia: A shark eating another shark.
Daniela Ceccarelli and David Williamson, coral researchers with the Australian Research Council's Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, witnessed the carnage, and photographer Tom Mannering captured the gruesome photos, published in National Geographic.
"The first thing that caught my eye was the almost translucent white of the bamboo shark," Ceccarelli wrote National Geographic in an email.
The researcher at first figured the translucent bamboo shark was obstructed by a coral ledge, but a closer look showed the white shark in the mouth of a wobbegong.
"It became clear that the head of the bamboo shark was hidden in its mouth," she said. "The bamboo shark was motionless and definitely dead."
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Some sharks are known for the practice of intrauterine cannibalism - where developing embryos eat other fertilized or unfertilized eggs in the womb, according to Animal Planet.
"I doubt that this is the first time such a thing has been seen," Ceccarelli wrote.
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