Galveston Bay has become an unexpected nursery for baby bull sharks, with notable increases in their numbers due to warming coastal waters. According to a recent study conducted by Texas A&M Galveston, these pups are now six times more plentiful than they were four decades ago. "Galveston Bay is now a bull shark nursery," marine biologist Philip Matich told the Houston Chronicle.

The rising temperatures have allowed the baby bull sharks to grow safely away from saltwater predators, leveraging their unique ability to retain salt in special glands to survive longer in estuarine waters. However, the warmer falls have also been linked to a decrease in the reproductive success of their prey by as much as 3 degrees Fahrenheit over the past four decades, which can then ultimately affect the shark's feeding patterns, "What we found in Texas is that while the warming waters are making the bays more suitable in the fall for the sharks, those warm waters are actually decreasing the reproductive success of some of their prey species, and the abundance of the prey is decreasing," Matich explained in his research published this month in the Journal of Animal Ecology.

However, researchers do not believe there is cause for alarm over the swelling numbers of juvenile bull sharks. While adult bull sharks are known for being one of the few shark species that can be aggressive to humans, the juveniles are considered less of a threat. "The young sharks go for easy food and do not tend to challenge humans," said Matich, in an interview with the Houston Chronicle.

Increased survival rates of the baby bull sharks have been credited to the longer periods they are able to remain in their natal estuaries during their first year, leading to potentially better survival rates to their next life stage. Texas A&M experts, however, warn that this surge could result in the decline of other fish species, especially those favored by humans for consumption. According to KHOU, increasing numbers of baby bull sharks have been recorded – up to eightfold in some cases over the past 40 years in coastal Texas, from Sabine Lake to Matagorda Bay.

Local fishermen, such as Capt. Greg Verm, see the booming shark population as problematic competition. "There's too many sharks," Verm told the Houston Chronicle, recounting experiences of baby bull sharks chasing shrimp boats and interfering with fishing activities. Despite these concerns, researchers from Texas A&M suggest that the juvenile sharks could help ecosystems in the region bear climate change better by moving between freshwater and marine environments, as this helps buffer disturbances like warming weather conditions.