Was there a bull shark in Lake Michigan?

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.



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There have been no confirmed reports of a bull shark being caught in any of the Great Lakes. While bull sharks are known to inhabit freshwater bodies, they typically prefer estuaries and brackish waters where salt and freshwater mix.

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Lake Michigan is generally clean and safe for swimming but it can become contaminated with harmful bacteria.

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A 4-foot alligator was found in Lake Michigan this week, but experts say there should be no worries that the reptiles could take up permanent residence in the Great Lakes the way pythons have made a home in the Florida Everglades. Midwest winters are way too cold for gators.

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In Lake Michigan, Chinook salmon are a dominant and generally mid-water predator whose diet consists mostly of alewives, a generally mid-water prey fish.

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Lake sturgeon are the largest fish in Michigan, and it's not even close. There is a tie for the second-largest fish ever caught in Michigan.

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Lake Nicaragua in Nicaragua Bull sharks travel up the San Juan River to Lake Nicaragua and sometimes spend years in the lake before returning to the Caribbean Ocean. Lake Nicaragua is a freshwater lake, and it's one of the largest in the Americas.

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Lake Nicaragua is the only freshwater lake containing oceanic animal life, including sharks, swordfish, and tarpon. More than 40 rivers drain into the lake, the largest being the Tipitapa River.

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There are no sharks in Lake Michigan. Most sharks require salt water and most freshwater sharks don't live anywhere near the Great Lakes. Periodically there are rumors of Bull sharks swimming up the Mississippi River and into the Illinois River to get to Lake Michigan, but this would be an unlikely journey.

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Two fishermen caught the shark in 1937 on the Mississippi River. Another bull shark was caught by a fisherman south of St. Louis on the Mississippi River in 1995, this time near Rush Island, Missouri.

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