The bull shark is an inhabitant of shallow waters, commonly found in depths less than 9 meters and often as shallow as waist deep. They can toterate, even thrive, in freshwater, and will swim far up large rivers and inhabit lakes. They seem to prefer murky water. Bull sharks are quite wide bodied compared to other requiem sharks.
Bull sharks are solitary and very omnivorous, eating nearly anything they come across. They have even been known to eat hippopotami. Thier shallow water habits bring them into frequent contact with people, their undiscriminating tastes results in many human attacks. It is likely this species is responsible for more human attacks than any other, and although more attacks have been reported for tiger and white sharks, it is thought that the number of unreported bull shark attacks far exceed this.