A critically endangered shark has been nursed back to health, after swallowing a large homemade bait spike and hook off Queensland’s south coast.
The severely injured female grey nurse shark was rescued from the bottom of the seafloor at a popular dive site near North Stradbroke Island.
It had swallowed a long metal skewer with a Venetian blind cord and electrical cable attached to it.
The metal rod had gone through the stomach and the hook had pierced its jaw.
Trevor Long from Sea World Marine Sciences believes the shark may have been underwater for weeks, because of algae on its teeth, which indicated the animal hadn’t been feeding.
The shark was eventually brought to the surface and taken to a specially-designed water tank at Sea World.
It underwent an operation and stayed in a rehabilitation tank before being released.
