When the prey becomes the predator: Sea lion tears apart a SHARK off the coast of California in video captured by beachgoers

A ferocious video caught the prey and became the predator.

A retired nurse captured the moment a large bull sea lion ripped out the throat of a blue shark in CaliforniaMonterey Bay.

The short clip shows the sea lion throwing the smaller shark out of the water, ripping off part of its jaw before swallowing it.

“Sharks are definitely on the menu,” a representative of a local marine mammal conservation nonprofit, the Marine Mammal Care Center, told DailyMail.com.

But he added, “I would definitely say it’s interesting to see a sea lion with a blue shark that big.” […] It’s always interesting to watch a sea lion eat something bigger than bite-sized chunks.”

According to marine scientists, the sea lion population on California’s coast is more commonly seen eating small schooling fish, such as sardines, although violent fights between sea lions and sharks are not uncommon.

“Sharks are definitely on the menu,” a representative of a local marine mammal conservation nonprofit, the Marine Mammal Care Center, told DailyMail.com

And typically, the blue shark’s most dangerous predator is human poachers engaged in “finning,” the wasteful trade in which poachers harvest shark fins and dump the finless corpses of sharks back into the sea.

According to the nonprofit, blue sharks, also known as great blue sharks, are the most heavily fished in the world Shark trust.

The species is listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as not completely threatened, but ‘near threatened’.red list.’

“There used to be a lot more blue sharks,” says Dave Bader, chief operations and education officer at the Marine Mammal Care Center in San Pedro, California.

“Blue sharks are common to these waters,” Bader told DailyMail.com. “But they are one of the species that has been severely wiped out by finning and shark fishing.”

According to marine biologist Dr. Chris Lowedirector of Shark Lab at California State University, Long Beach, sea lions are not an uncommon predator of sharks, although they pose a far less existential threat than “finning” practices.

“People don’t think about marine mammals eating sharks,” Lowe said told reporters during an equally shocking 2015 fight between a sea lion and a thresher shark, “but it’s actually quite common.”

But sea lions are “opportunistic eaters,” said Bader of the Marine Mammal Care Center, and they usually seek out smaller, easier prey.

According to Bader, large sea lions will drag a creature to the surface because it is easier to swing into the open and tear off a bite from their prey

“Here at the Marine Mammal Care Center we feed them herring,” Bader told DailyMail.com. “And for the most part, sea lions here locally will eat small ‘schooling’ fish such as sardines, anchovies and mackerel.”

“But those big male sea lions are known to eat salmon; They have been known to eat stingrays and large halibut,” he noted.

“The behavior where they come to the surface and you see him punch that shark in the air is because he can’t swallow them whole.”

According to Bader, large sea lions will drag a creature to the surface because it is easier to swing into the open and tear off a bite from their prey.

Although this great blue shark is a good opponent against an adult sea lion, many other shark species are more vulnerable prey.

‘We tend to think of sharks as things that are big and dangerous. You know, they’re the predator and not the prey.” Bader said.

‘But for most shark species they are the prey.’

Most sharks are less than three feet long, according to Bader, and 80 percent are less than six feet long.

“So a fairly small percentage of sharks grow up to be big and an even smaller percentage of those pose a danger to everyone,” he said. “Just because it’s a shark doesn’t mean it’s an apex predator.”

In this deadly encounter captured on video by marine photographer Loriannah Hespe Last October 20, the most surprising aspect for a seasoned observer like Bader was that the blue shark did not swim away.

When DailyMail.com asked Bader what was the “most surprising” encounter he’s ever seen between a sea lion and a shark, the COO of the Marine Mammal Care Center said, “This is definitely one of them.”

“They can swim faster and dive deeper, possibly than that sea lion,” Bader said. “So the fact that the sea lion caught it is quite interesting.”