Busan's missing shark Bukangi hasn't been seen in 14 days. Experts say it went south

Remember Bukangi, the shark that spent more than a month in a canal in a Busan park? It has now been gone for two weeks, and experts think it's long gone to warmer waters.

What happened?

Bukangi stayed for over a month in the artificial waterway of the North Port waterfront park in Busan. Then, on Oct. 21, authorities carried out an operation to guide it out into the open sea.

For a while after that, the shark kept popping up off Pier 1 and the international passenger terminal. The last confirmed sighting was on Oct. 27.

As of Nov. 9, that's 14 days without a trace. The National Institute of Fisheries Science (a government marine research body) and other agencies said no new sighting reports came in today either.

Where did it go?

Choi Yoon, an emeritus professor of marine biology at Kunsan National University, thinks Bukangi probably headed out to the open sea within a week of Oct. 27.

He points to the shark's health. While it was in the narrow, shallow canal, it had wounds on its body and looked unwell. Once outside, it reportedly started feeding normally and recovered. It likely got used to the wide, deep water and drifted out on its own.

Water temperature backs this up. Off North Port, it has dropped to about 18 degrees Celsius, the lower limit of what sharks find comfortable. Choi says even sharks that had traveled north into the East Sea are now moving south at this time of year. His best guess is the Korea Strait or waters near Jeju Island.

Will it come back?

Some locals who grew fond of Bukangi are hoping it returns next summer. Experts say that's very unlikely.

A shark from the open ocean wandering into a waterfront canal is an extremely rare event. As for why it happened, nobody knows for sure. One theory involves magnetic fields. Sharks have an organ called the ampullae of Lorenzini, which makes them sensitive to electrical signals. The magnetic field around North Port may have confused Bukangi's sense of direction.

Choi believes the shark was accidentally trapped in the canal that way, and says it would be hard for the same thing to happen again.