SEE IT: Florida Man Captures Video Of Bull Shark And Alligator Swimming Side-By-Side
VERO BEACH (CBSMiami) – Here's a sight you don't see every day. A bull shark and an alligator swimming side-by-side in Vero Beach.
Gray Vinson took video of the shark and gator swimming next to each other in the Indian River Lagoon around noon on Sunday, March 21 as he walked over a bridge.
Vinson told CBSMiami.com this area is a common spawning ground for bull sharks and he was actually surprised to see the gator.
"I was shocked to see the alligator," he said. "I was looking to see if any of the bull sharks were there since they normally are this time of year."
As for both of them being together, he said, "They both are kinda out of place if you ask me. The water in the Indian River is brackish and normally you think of sharks in the ocean and alligators in freshwater. I only started seeing bull sharks here a few years back."
According to experts, alligators can be spotted anywhere there is water including lakes, ponds, rivers, marshes, swamps, and even man-made canals. Although they are almost exclusively a fresh-water species, they have been found in brackish water and marine salt waters.
Experts also say bull sharks are one of the very few sharks that can live in freshwater and the 150-mile-long Indian River Lagoon is one of the most important bull shark nursery grounds on the U.S. Atlantic coast.
