Baby Shark Bong — Fisherman in Fried Fishing cap using a dead baby shark as a bong on a boat at night

Baby Shark Bong

2019viral videodead

Published August 15, 2026

Baby Shark Bong is a February 2019 viral video from Australian fisherman Billy Brislane, who used a hollowed-out dead baby bull shark as a smoking pipe while the children's song 'Baby Shark' played in the background. The Facebook clip drew fast backlash from animal welfare accounts and mainstream press, and Brislane said he received death threats and a police visit before quitting social media.

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Overview

Baby Shark Bong is the online outrage that followed a Facebook video showing an Australian fisherman inhaling smoke through a dead baby shark. Two tubes were pushed through the animal, one into the head and one into the tail, and the man drew from the tail-end mouthpiece while the kids' song 'Baby Shark' played over the top1. The clip surfaced on the Fried Fishing Australia page, which had roughly 21,000 followers at the time1.

The video was pulled soon after posting, but screenshots, mirrors and reaction posts kept it circulating across Twitter, Reddit and mainstream news coverage2. Reporting identified the fisherman as Billy Brislane, who insisted the shark was already dead when he built the makeshift bong and that he was smoking tobacco rather than cannabis2.

Origin & Background

Platform
Facebook (viral spread via Twitter and Reddit)
Creator
Billy Brislane
Date
2019

On February 1, 2019, the Facebook page Fried Fishing Australia posted the short clip of a hollowed dead baby bull shark being used as a bong to the tune of 'Baby Shark'3. Brislane later said the animal had been caught by a mate on a mangrove jack fishing trip and left in an icebox for two nights before he came up with the idea1.

Facing waves of angry comments, the page issued a defense of the video and confirmed that police had visited over complaints2. Brislane offered to take a drug test to prove he had been smoking tobacco, not cannabis, although the outrage was driven by animal cruelty concerns rather than drug use1.

How It Spread

Backlash spread fast. Twitter user @FinsUnited posted, 'Why is it so hard for human beings to treat #animals with respect? This is sickening, disheartening, and overall SO disgusting'3, and Twitter user @Edwardpumps wrote, 'The #SharkBong invention is disgusting'3. On February 4, 2019, Redditor tstanz1 shared the story to the r/BrandNewSentence subreddit, where it hit more than 145 upvotes at 99% approval within a day3.

Mainstream press picked it up within days. The Daily Mail ran a step-by-step breakdown of the clip and the fisherman's post-outrage statement1, while the New York Post reported that Brislane said death threats had pushed him off social media2. Marine biologist Melissa Cristina Márquez, founder of the Fins United Initiative, told the Washington Post that fishing for bull sharks is not illegal in Australia but called the display appalling2.

Forbes, the Washington Post and the Daily Dot also covered the incident3, turning a regional fishing-page upload into a short-lived global news story about animal disrespect and viral outrage cycles.

How to Use This Meme

Baby Shark Bong is a one-off shock news story, not a reusable image or video template. It's typically referenced today as shorthand for extreme fishing-page content that draws mass online backlash, and is often paired in comment threads with the 'Baby Shark' song lyric to nod at the original clip.

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