There are some rare fish swimming in the waters of Florida.
Florida anglers never know what they are going to pull in when they drop a line in the waters, which are home to some of the most exotic fish in the world.
But this Florida fisherman made the catch of a lifetime when he landed one of the rarest fish on the planet.
Rare shark catch
A professional angler in the Sunshine State just caught one of the rarest sharks in the world.
Jack Appleton landed what he called his “coolest shark to date” near Captiva Island in the Gulf of Mexico, roughly 30 miles west of Cape Coral on the west coast of Florida.
Appleton caught a lemon shark with a condition called piebaldism, which gave it a unique appearance.
The shark’s body is almost completely white with speckles of gray.
Appleton explained that he caught the rare lemon shark while he was actually fishing for bull sharks.
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He wrote on Instagram, “Incredibly rare lemon shark with a genetic condition known as piebaldism, accidentally came across this beauty while fishing for some bulls. . .She had been tagged recently, so I took down her tag number and recorded measurements to send into [the] NOAA.”
In the video, Appleton has the shark on a dock where it lunges at him several times while thrashing about before he tosses it back into the ocean.
Lemon sharks are a protected species under Florida law and must be returned to the water as promptly as possible.
A one in 100 million get
Piebaldism is an incredibly rare condition in sharks; it is a rare genetic disorder that causes a lack of melanocytes, melanin forming cells, which turn part of an animal’s body white.
Piebaldism, similar to albinism, is virtually unheard of in sharks.
Fishing social media personality Rob Chapman put the odds of seeing a piebald shark as almost statistically impossible.
Chapman wrote on social media, “This (piebald or leucistic) shark is officially [one] in 100 million.”
Chapman noted that the piebald lemon shark had been tagged by researchers, which indicated that it had been caught before.
“This lemon shark was caught and released. Again and again and again and again over several years,” Chapman said.
Chapman also claimed that “there’s only been two previously recorded versions of a piebald shark EVER.”
A group of scuba divers in Honduras encountered a nurse shark with piebaldism back in March 2022.
Piebaldism is thought to be so rare in animals because it causes them to lose the ability to camouflage themselves, which makes them much more susceptible to predators.
Appleton, who runs a land-based shark fishing charter business, called the shark “God’s artwork” and noted it was the rarest catch of his entire career.
He said, “You spend enough time with bait in the water, something cool is bound to happen. There’s a lot of crazy creatures in the ocean. I’m grateful I got to see this one.”
A random day of fishing in the Sunshine State resulted in Jack Appleton catching one of the rarest sharks on the globe.
Informed American will keep you up-to-date on any developments to this ongoing story.
