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Spotted: A Real-Life Version Of ‘Finding Nemo’s’ Bruce

By Zakiya Jamal
Published on: 15:09 PST, Mar 26, 2016

There are a lot of great characters in Finding Nemo, which is why we love the movie so much. There’s forgettable Dory, fearful Marlin, daring Nemo, and so many others. But one character that really stood out in the film is the “vegetarian” shark, Bruce.

A Photograph Discovered A Real Life Bruce From 'Finding Nemo'
[Image by Disney]
Bruce, along with his two shark friends, are determined to stop eating other fish. “Fish are friends, not food,” is a motto us humans have adopted into our own language, displaying it on T-shirts and other paraphernalia proudly. Although Bruce has a mild slip-up when Dory has a nosebleed, it becomes clear that Bruce really is a friend to Dory and Marlin. And if his friendship with fish wasn’t cute enough, who couldn’t feel sorry for Bruce after he explained his daddy issues (“I never knew my father”)?

A Photograph Discovered A Real Life Bruce From 'Finding Nemo'
[Image by Disney]
Well it seems our favorite shark has a real-life counterpart. According to IFLScience, 58-year-old photographer Kenneth “Wayne” MacWilliams took a picture of the Bruce-lookalike shark off the coast of Juniper, Florida.

Although the shark MacWilliams found is a lemon shark while Bruce is a great white, the big smile on the shark’s face is eerily similar to that of Bruce’s. However, unlike Bruce, this shark is definitely not a vegetarian. According to IFLScience, lemon sharks eat any kind of fish or crustaceans, and while Bruce is closer to Australia, lemon sharks are often found in Brazil, the Gulf of Mexico, and the west coast of Africa.

According to Caters News, MacWilliams was on a diving expedition with Emerald Charters scuba diving, which is owned by Capt. Randy Jordan, a renowned “shark whisperer,” when he snapped the picture.

“Since it appears as the shark is smiling, it made me smile,” MacWilliams told Caters News about the photo.

And it seems others can’t help but agree with MacWilliams’ sentiments.

Still, though the picture is very cute, some Finding Nemo fans are not sure they see the resemblance between the two sharks.

And others couldn’t help but be reminded of this human who has a very similar smile to the Finding Nemo shark.

Whether you think the lemon shark is Bruce’s real-life twin or not, all this talk about Finding Nemo has stirred up new excitement about the sequel, Finding Dory, due to release on June 17. Although Bruce hasn’t been spotted in any of the trailers yet, one can’t help but hope the friendly vegetarian shark will make a reappearance. Bruce would definitely understand Dory’s want to find her parents and family and maybe that could lead to Bruce trying to find his father after all this time.

For now though, it seems we’ll just have to keep looking at pictures of the real-life Bruce and watching Finding Nemo again to enjoy our favorite shark.

[Photo by Disney]

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