SEOUL (AFP) - Visitors to a giant aquarium in Seoul on Friday (Jan 29) were presented with the gory aftermath of a territorial dispute between two sharks, which left one dead inside the mouth and gullet of the other.

Staff at the COEX aquarium said the fight between a 2.2m-long sand tiger shark and a banded hound shark half its size broke out on Thursday evening (Jan 28).

Size and power won the day, and by the time the aquarium opened on Friday, only the tail of the smaller shark was visible - poking from the jaws of its larger female tank mate.

"The sand tiger shark's instincts are to attack if its territory is threatened, especially during breeding periods," a spokesman for the aquarium said.

The shark appeared to have swallowed its victim whole, and the spokesman said it would probably regurgitate the hound shark after failing to digest it.

"But that could take up to a week," he added.