There are NO Great White Sharks in the Illinois River

Great white sharks in the Illinois River? Not a chance!

Here we go again, last night I was scrolling though my Facebook feed and discovered about 10 friends of mine sharing a story about a report that great white sharks that were allegedly spotted in the Illinois River, near Morris, IL.

Holy shark-teeth, Batman! Unfortunately, it's not true. (Or should I say, fortunately?)

The story that was widely circulating claims that the sharks swam all the up the Mississippi River, made a right hand turn when they got to the Illinois River and are hanging out in Morris, IL. Maybe they stopped into Tully Monster's Pub which sits right on the river to grab a bite to eat.

Why Morris? Perhaps they were looking for the famous TV cat? A few red flags:

• Great White Shark's natural habitat is salt water. The Illinois river, last time I checked is a fresh water river.
• The fake news item displays a photo that doesn't even show great white sharks, or the Illinois River, either.

The fake report says:

It is incredibly uncommon for salt water dwelling creatures to stay for lengthy periods of time in fresh water. However, two Great White Sharks have managed to survive the trip and make their way up the Mississippi River and in to the Illinois River somehow. Believed to have started as a mating couple, the two are assumed to have swam the 1250 mile journey to the Chicago suburb River from the mouth of the Mississippi River

Yeah right! With April 1st coming up, expect even more fictitious stories to clog up your social news feed.

Just a thought, wouldn't the Rock River make a good location for Sharknado 6. Sharknado 5 comes out this summer.