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DOMINION POST Sports page 6-B 11 JAN 18

There aren’t any sharks in Cheat Lake ... or are there?

We know that the warmer temperatures we’ve experienced in recent years changed the timing of various things. Flowers bloom earlier. Insect hatches are earlier. Fruits ripen earlier. Of course, all these things affect wildlife.

Birds that nested to coincide with good food supplies now find that their timing is off. Some species have made adjustments, but some have not. Fish also are affected. Ocean fishes are now found farther north because their food supply is now farther north.

For one reason or another, we’re now finding that at least three species of sharks that normally live in the ocean are invading freshwater. Maybe it’s due to water temperature, maybe not, but here are two examples of sharks that have moved into fresh water. Bull sharks can grow to seven feet and can be found along the ocean coasts and in bays and harbors. However, in recent years, they’ve been spotted in fresh water. In fact, they’ve been known to travel from the Gulf of Mexico up the Mississippi River to Illinois. The speartooth shark is another shark that has adapted to live in salt and fresh water.

But the one that intrigues me the most is the spiny dogfish shark. Males mature at 11 years of age when they are about 3 feet in length. They are a food source in parts of Europe and there is a push to make them a food source here, as well. This is especially true in the Cape Cod region. If you dissected a fish in a high school or college science class, it was probably a spiny dogfish. Not very tasty in formaldehyde, but apparently not bad eating when prepared properly.

Once the most abundant shark species in the world, their numbers have declined significantly, especially in the North Atlantic and across Europe, where their demand as food has rocketed.

However, the reason this species intrigues me is because they can survive in fresh water. When the Ohio River recently receded after a major flood, one dogfish shark was found on a boat ramp in Illinois. When I heard a rumor last fall that a fisherman spotted one in Cheat Lake, I didn’t think much about it. A joke. A misidentification. But, now we know that one lived in the Ohio River. Makes one wonder what other sharks might be about.

Obviously, a shark didn’t swim all the way up the Ohio then down the Monongahela River, and somehow got past the dam on the Cheat River at Point Marion. But what if someone caught one in the ocean and brought it alive to Cheat Lake and released it? Normally, that would not be a big deal, except that the Polar Plunge is coming up next Saturday at the docks near Crab Shack Caribba, on Cheat Lake.

A shark probably wouldn’t bother one swimmer in Cheat Lake, but on Saturday there will be a bunch of swimmers in the lake raising money for a great cause. You might want to stop out there. Never know what you might see. And while you’re thinking about that, you can go the polar plunge website (sowv.org/), and make a donation for Special Olympics. My Rotary Club has three members who will be diving into those cold waters to raise money. Might they be in any danger? Might there be a shark in those waters? Naw. Don’t you believe it. Can’t happen. Yet again, there was one seen in Illinois. Hmmm