Under the Seine on Netflix: could a white shark live in the waters of Paris?

“ A shark… in the Seine?! », wonders actress Anne Marivin in the trailer for the film Under the Seine, available on Netflix this Wednesday, June 5. This is indeed the heart of the storyline of this thriller directed by Xavier Gens: a giant shark finds itself in Parisian waters, while the triathlon world championship is to be organized. A few days before the Olympic Games, this nightmarish story is rather timely.

Should athletes worry about such an eventuality in real life, with a giant shark inviting itself into the Seine to share a few swims with them? “ Certain species of sharks are capable of evolving in fresh water », Indicates Typhaine Coste, scientific mediator at the Paris Aquarium, to Numerama. But this is not the case for the white shark, the species shown in Under the Seine. Comments confirmed by Bernard Seret, biological oceanographer, specializing in marine ichthyology — the study of fish and marine animals.

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A white shark cannot survive in the Seine

Typhaine Coste specifies, however, that the bull shark could be at ease in the Seine. He “ lives mainly in warm waters (tropical regions), it is a ‘euryhaline’ species, so it can evolve in fresh and salt water. It has already been seen in certain rivers in the United States. » However, the bull shark lives mainly in South Africa, Brazil, Florida, New Caledonia, the Panama Canal, Reunion Island and Madagascar. Suffice to say that a trip to Paris appears as distant as it is improbable.

“ There are also Ganges sharks which live in fresh water. […]. The latter are not present at all in metropolitan waters », adds Typhaine Coste. The white shark is incapable of surviving in the waters of the Seine — “ If it were present, the great white shark would be dying, or in very poor condition. It’s impossible for him to go back to Paris. »

The reason is more chemical than physical: “ The difficulty of acclimatization between fresh water and salt water, for a great white shark, is not due to pressure, but to osmoregulation. Osmoregulation is the ability to adapt between two environments with different salinities. »

Concretely, the white shark is capable of ensuring osmoregulation “ on very similar salinity levels, such as the Mediterranean (saltier) and the Atlantic (less salty) “, but not ” not between a marine environment and a river environment. »

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The shark has a particularly bad reputation

Director Xavier Gens and his screenwriters are therefore not seeking scientific veracity with Under the Seine. On the other hand, they bank on the bad reputation of sharks, like so many other films (Jaws, to quote the best known). Except that, points out Typhaine Coste, “ the danger of the shark is very overestimated. »

This observation is based on concrete figures, which show that the shark is more harmless than it seems. “ For example, in 2023, 69 shark attacks were recorded and only 10 were fatal, and all of this worldwide. »

The shark clearly suffers froma dirty-mouthed crime, linked to a frightening appearance which predisposes him to a role as a monster in a horror film. “ Shark bites are truly exceptional and often due to the shark’s investigation (exploration) of its territory. », concludes Typhaine Coste. In short, the participants of the Paris Olympics can sleep soundly. And rather worry about the level of pollution of the Seine.

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