Whales don't live in the Great Lakes. Or do they? No, not at all. But that doesn't stop visitors – spurred on by ongoing pranks such as the Lake Michigan Whale Migration Station Facebook page – from asking for whale-watching tours.
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Yes it is true! White Sperm Whales, like Moby Dick in the book of Herman Melville, are abundant in the fresh waters of southern Lake Michigan. Observing this rare cetacean is an exciting spectacle, unique, made possible only by Lake Michigan Whale Watching.
A few even submitted the issue to Snopes.com, debunkers of urban legends, which investigated the issue last summer and pronounced that stories of whales in Lake Michigan are the result of “mistakes, pranks and hoaxes.”
While there have been past “sightings,” most have turned out to be pranks or misidentifications. The reality is that the largest of the Great Lakes (Lake Superior and Michigan) are extremely deep lakes that are too cold for sharks.
Not all the fish species that call it home are native species—in fact, Lake Michigan is home to a surprising number of fish that came from the sea or are anadromous, meaning they can survive in both freshwater and saltwater.
Due to their nature, Lake Michigan is a freshwater lake, so dolphins cannot survive here. The marine mammal, called the harbor seals, are only found in the Great Lakes, particularly in Lake Michigan, Lake Huron, and Lake Superior.
The Lake Sturgeon - Michigan's Biggest Creature You may be a little startled if it decides to swim past your feet, as the Lake Sturgeon is rather big in size. On average, they can be anywhere between six and three feet in length. They will also weigh anywhere between 30-100lbs.
Alligators are rarely found in the Great Lakes. Although some alligators thrive in freshwater, it's just too cold in the north for them to survive. They don't typically live farther north than North Carolina. It's unclear how the alligator arrived to Lake Michigan.
Invasive carp include bighead carp, black carp, grass carp and silver carp. Find out more about each of these species and about invasive carp in Michigan on each species' profile below.
Thankfully for those who like to swim in Lake Ontario, Bull Sharks do not enter the St.Lawrence. In fact, even if they did, the waters of the northern Atlantic, and even Lake Ontario itself, are far too cold for this tropical shark to tolerate.
The first recorded sighting of a bull shark in the Great Lakes was in 1937, when a 10-foot specimen was caught near Alton, Illinois, on the Mississippi River. Since then, there have been several other reported sightings of bull sharks in the Great Lakes, including Lake Michigan, Lake Huron, and Lake Ontario.
Meteotsunamis are frequently observed in the Great Lakes, averaging 106 events per year. Examples of destructive Great Lakes meteotsunamis include: In 1929, a retreating 20 foot wave pulled ten people to their deaths at in Lake Michigan at Grand Haven, MI.