Great white shark – Page 6 – Syndication Server

Anglers in awe as ‘ginormous’ great white shark circles boat

A great white shark encounter Monday off of Ocean City, Md., rendered members of a fishing charter delirious for the three-plus minutes.

A great white shark mesmerized anglers for several minutes Monday off Ocean City, Md., as the enormous predator slowly circled the boat.

“That is massive,” one man states in the accompanying footage.

“That thing is absolutely ginormous,” another chimes in.

The footage, captured by Steven White from aboard the Fish Finder with Capt. Mark Sampson, shows the adult white shark appear alongside the boat, rendering the anglers and crew somewhat delirious.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nl8KK1scViA&w=560&h=315]

“I’m zoomed all the way out and I can’t get him in the whole camera lens,” White says.

“She has got to be pregnant,” another man observes, prompting agreement from another: “If she’s that big there’s no way she’s not pregnant.”

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Another man, perhaps the captain, says the shark is “the biggest one I’ve ever seen.”

Click Orlando reported that experts who watched the video estimated the shark to measure 15 feet and weigh 2,000 pounds.

White, who charted the boat with friends, said the shark was attracted by the scent of fish, and at 3:13 the shark bares its teeth as it moves in for a carcass dangling on a hook.

Great white shark sightings off Maryland are not unheard of, but it’s rare for anglers to capture lengthy encounters on video.

–Image courtesy of Steven White

Great white shark chased by prey in odd encounter

In an extraordinary sight rarely captured in video, a school of tuna is seen following a meandering great white shark with a goal in mind.

In an extraordinary sight rarely captured in video, a school of tuna is seen following a meandering great white shark with the apparent goal of using the shark as a scratching post.

Erik Jones, who shares aerial footage on social media via Dronsey, shot the video showing the tuna lined up behind the shark. You can see at least two sharks—one vividly—rubbing against the tail end of the shark. All that action comes within the first 16 seconds, after which the shark keeps swimming and the tuna eventually disperse.

“It was pretty interesting to see the prey chasing the predator in this footage from Baja Mexico,” Jones said in his post. “The tuna was following behind as the large white shark meandered through the water. Sometimes the tuna would rub against the shark’s caudal fin and dart back into the school of fish. It was amazing to witness and did leave me wondering what exactly what was going on down there.”

Also on FTW Outdoors: Angler risks swimming with sharks to avoid losing fish

Dr. Chris Lowe, professor and director of the California State University, Long Beach Shark Lab, told USA Today/For The Win Outdoors that he’s heard of lots of different species rubbing on sharks and across a range of shark species.

“My guess is, that footage is from Guadalupe Island,” Lowe told For The Win Outdoors. “I’ve heard of yellowtail, pilot fish and remora rubbing on white sharks [like] that at Guadalupe Island as well.

“I guess if you’ve got ectoparasites that make you itch, there is no better scratching post than the sandpaper skin of a shark,” Lowe told For The Win Outdoors. “Probably not wise to scratch on the front end, though.

“I particularly like how these fish are rubbing on the tail – those tunas have clearly been around the block a time or two.”

Lowe told us he’s only seen video of this a few times, adding, “I’ve had a few hardcore Guadalupe divers say they’ve seen it but didn’t get it on camera.”

Photos courtesy of Erik Jones.

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Kayak fisherman’s ill-advised move invites shark attack

A kayak fisherman fought off a great white shark that chomped down on his boat 30 seconds after unintentionally prompting the attack.

A kayak fisherman off Northern California fought off a great white shark that chomped down on his boat moments after he bled out a fish he had just caught, evidently unintentionally inviting the shark attack by doing so.

Michael Thallheimer Jr. of Eureka was camping in Shelter Cove in Southern Humboldt County when he decided to go fishing by himself Monday morning around 6:15, according to the North Coast Journal and Lost Coast Outpost.

“I had caught two small ling cod and then caught a large one about 36 inches or so,” Thallheimer told North Coast Journal. “I put it on my fish clip. I cut through the gills and it pumps all the blood out. As soon as I did that, it wasn’t 30 seconds after, that [the shark] attacked.

“All of a sudden, it was attached to the side of my kayak.”

He described it as a 16- to 18-foot great white shark.

Also on FTW Outdoors: Angler risks swimming with sharks to avoid losing fish

“I saw a nose and an eyeball with no soul,” he told the Journal. “That animal doesn’t give a [darn] … [The shark bit] right in the middle of the kayak directly next to my knee and thigh, about 6 inches away.

“I slapped the thing as hard as I could on the end of its nose.”

It was enough to prompt the shark to let go. It then whipped its tail hard, hitting the kayak.

“It gave me a good thump, [but] it didn’t damage the kayak. I think he was pretty scared. He turned and split as fast as it could.”

Thallheimer immediately headed for shore, pedaling with his feet. Then he suddenly realized “the paddle was not there.” He told the Journal the shark had bitten through the rope that held the paddle to the kayak, so he circled around to retrieve his paddle and headed in.

Halfway back to the harbor, Thallheimer realized his kayak was filling with water; the Journal reported the shark had bitten a hole in the side of the kayak. He phoned 911 but as he was talking, a wave rolled the kayak, sending him into the water and his phone and keys to the bottom of the ocean.

He scrambled to get back into the kayak only to have it roll again and again.

“Every time I would pull it right side up, it would flip over,” he told the Journal.

“[Eventually] I got off and held on to the side of it…I was in the water maybe 15 minutes…It never left my mind the whole time that [the shark] might be going to come back. I had a freshly killed fish dangling around my feet because it was clipped to my kayak…I kept telling myself, ‘Be calm. Panic is not going to do any good.’”

A radio attached to his lifejacket alerted him that help was on the way.

“Fishermen responded, pulled him into their boat and dragged his kayak back to the marina,” Shelter Cove Fire spokesperson Cheryl Antony told Lost Coast Outpost. “He was hypothermic but suffered no injuries.

“He said he was so scared when he realized his boat was sinking and he didn’t know where the shark was. He was thankful to be alive because it could have gone really bad to be out there all by himself. Anything could have happened.”

Photos of rescue of kayak fisherman and rope that shark bit through courtesy of Shelter Cove Fire. Generic images of kayak fisherman and great white shark courtesy of Wikipedia Commons.

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Great white shark remarkably fast in 50-yard dash

Great white sharks are not speedsters, so for Matt Lemond it was surprising to see a young white shark sprint across the surface at 20 mph.

Great white sharks are not known for their speed, so for Matt Larmand it was surprising to watch a young white shark sprint across the surface at perhaps 20 mph.

“He was going at least 20 mph,” Larmand told For The Win Outdoors. “I was going full throttle on the drone trying to catch up to him.”

Larmand, an licensed drone pilot for Dana Wharf Whale Watching, captured the accompanying footage Thursday from his home on Capistrano Beach in Dana Point, Ca.

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Capo Beach, as the community is referred to by locals, sometimes attracts juvenile white sharks in late spring and summer.

The sharks, often spotted just beyond the surf zone, prey on stingrays and other bottom fishes until they become large enough – 12-plus feet – to move offshore to feed on seals and sea lions.

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Larmand launched his drone after receiving reports of recent sightings. It was his first sighting of the season and he estimated the shark to measure 8 to 10 feet.

“I’m not sure what triggered him to burst into speed like that; I’ve never seen one do that,” he said, adding that the sprint covered about 50 yards.

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Chris Lowe, Director of the Shark Lab at California State University – Long Beach, told For The Win Outdoors that he the shark appears to have been spooked by the drone’s shadow.

“Those neonates are pretty skittish,” Lowe said. “Seeing the drone shadow gave it a pretty good scare.”

Lowe added:

“I think it brings about the point of one of our hypotheses as to why young white sharks use beach habitats. We aren’t sure where white sharks give birth, we know they do not exhibit parental care, so babies are completely on their own. They probably hang out in shallow water near beaches because that is a safer place with very few large predators, lots of easy to capture prey (stingrays), and the water’s warmer.

“This response to the shadow of the drone supports one reason why they hang out in shallow waters. They don’t know what is a threat and the safest behavior is to flee when they experience something unknown.

“What’s also interesting is that babies will exhibit this rapid flight in one direction, while older sharks will do a loop around when scared. This doubling back on a potential threat is a typical predator behavior to prevent a rear attack.”

Larmand spotted the same shark later Thursday, “cruising up and down the coast” at normal speed (see second video).

Mako sharks are the fastest sharks, capable of bursts in excess of 40 mph as they chase prey such as tuna, mackerel, and swordfish.

Great white sharks, which can measure to about 20 feet, become much bulkier as adults and rely on ambush to catch their prey.

Catch of 15-foot great white shark honors hit-and-run victim

A 15-foot great white shark was caught Wednesday off Hilton Head, S.C., and named after a girl who was killed in a hit-and-run accident.

A 15-foot great white shark was caught Wednesday off Hilton Head, S.C., and named after a 14-year-old girl who was killed in a 2016 hit-and-run accident.

Capt. Chip Michalove of Outcast Sport Fishing tagged and released the adult female shark – his first white shark catch of 2020 – and afterward named her Grace.

Grace Sulak in 2015. Photo courtesy of Kristen Sulak

“We’re naming her Grace after an aspiring marine biologist Grace Sulak [who] was killed in a hit-and-run May 7, 2016 on I-26,” Michalove wrote Thursday on Facebook. “The white truck that caused the accident was never found.”

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Sulak, a member of the Bluffton High School track team, was riding in a car with her best friend and her friend’s mother when their vehicle was run off the road by the driver of a white truck, who fled the scene.

Sulak was the only person killed in the accident, which remains under investigation.

Michalove, who tags white sharks that have migrated south after spending the summer off Cape Cod, is assisting in a long-term scientific project with Greg Skomal of the Massachusetts Department of Marine Fisheries and Megan Winton of the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy.

The movements of sharks tagged by the group can be followed via its “Sharktivity” app.

–Images showing the great white shark are courtesy of Chip Michalove. Image showing Grace Sulak in 2015 is courtesy of Kristen Sulak

Spearfisherman dragged out to sea by great white shark

An eyewitness believed a spearfisherman had been fatally attacked by a great white shark after noticing only a fishing floatation buoy bobbing in the waters 200 yards off South Africa with no sign of the diver. But when rescuers arrived on the …

But when rescuers arrived on the scene, they found spearfisherman Theodore Prinsloo safely on shore with an amazing story to share about a 16-foot shark dragging him out to sea, this according to the National Sea Rescue Institute Plettenberg Bay station commander Marc Rodgers.

Prinsloo was on vacation with his family in Nature’s Valley, a holiday resort on the Southern Cape coast, when the incident occurred Wednesday.

He noticed a shark swimming in the vicinity he was spearfishing and suspected it was the same shark that had been seen in the area the day before. Prinsloo had kept close to the rocks as the shark swam up close to him at one point.

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Twenty minutes after hooking a 20-pound musselcracker fish onto his fishing floatation buoy, the shark reappeared and grabbed the fish and began swimming out to sea, dragging Prinsloo with it. Rodgers said the shark took Prinsloo about 165 feet before the diver managed to unhook the floatation buoy from his spear gun and escape the shark.

He then quickly swam to shore.

The crew aboard the NSRI rescue craft did make one rescue on the day, but it was too late to save the musselcracker, as only its head remained.

“We recovered the buoy, line and the fish head onto our sea rescue craft and Theodore and his family came to fetch the buoy and line at our sea rescue base,” Rodgers said. “Theodore [said] that he needs the buoy to go spearfishing tomorrow and is grateful that NSRI recovered his buoy.”

Photo showing Prinsloo getting his floatation buoy back courtesy of the National Sea Rescue Institute.

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Great white shark gets stuck in divers’ cage

Disturbing video has surfaced showing a great white shark trying to squeeze into a cage with divers inside at Mexico’s Guadalupe Island.

Disturbing video has surfaced showing a great white shark trying to squeeze into a cage with divers inside at Mexico’s Guadalupe Island. (Warning: The video contains graphic footage.)

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Mexican activist Arturo Islas Allende shared the video to his social media platforms under a title that translates to “Negligence kills white shark.” He implicated a Nautilus Dive Adventures vessel and complained that cage openings were not adjusted in a manner to keep sharks and divers safe.

The divers, who were clearly frightened as the massive predator writhed after getting its head stuck in a cage opening, were not injured. It remains unclear whether the shark, in fact, perished after its ordeal.

Nautilus Liveaboards had not responded to inquiries about the incident, which occurred in October, at the time of this post.

Guadalupe Island is seasonal home to dozens of adult great white sharks and regarded as one of the world’s premier shark-diving destinations. In typical situations, crews on the vessels will pull baits toward cages so divers in cages can photograph the apex predators in close quarters.

Crews are not allowed to feed sharks, and cages must meet specifications set by the Mexican government.

Michael Domeier, president and executive director of the Marine Conservation Science Institute, has conducted extensive shark research at Guadalupe Island. Many sharks are identifiable based on distinctive markings and are part of an expansive database.

Domeier told For The Win Outdoors that the shark in the video is named Stouffer.

Domeier declined to guess why the shark tried to get inside the cage, but added: “It doesn’t look to me like the bait was too close. For some reason that shark wanted what was in the cage. It hit the cage, backed up, then charged again. It could have turned and swam away.”

–Images and video are courtesy of Arturo Islas Allende

Great white shark breach catches scientist by surprise

A Massachusetts scientist has discovered that it pays to be quick on your feet while trying to capture footage of great white sharks.

A Massachusetts marine biologist has discovered, for the second time in as many years, that it pays to be quick on your feet while trying to capture footage of great white sharks with a pole-cam.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3ncQ1S4jxs]

The accompanying footage, released Tuesday by the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy, shows a 9-foot white shark breaching directly beneath Greg Skomal as he stands on the pulpit of a research vessel off Cape Cod.

Skomal jumps and shuffles his feet in a startled attempt to distance himself from the shark, which was ultimately tagged as part of an ongoing scientific effort by the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries and the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy.

Great white shark breaches at feet of Greg Skomal. Photo: Atlantic White Shark Conservancy

The footage, captured Nov. 11, shows the primary breach from both sides of the vessel and somebody, perhaps Skomal, can be heard shouting, “Jesus Christ!”

The Atlantic White Shark Conservancy stated on Facebook:

“While encounters like this one are rare, this video shows that they can occur. White sharks are wild and unpredictable animals. This is a good reminder of the importance of following safety tips and always staying vigilant when in or on the water.”

Greg Skomal moments before 2018 close encounter. Photo: Atlantic White Shark Conservancy

That’s the same statement issued in June 2018, when a large white shark breached directly beneath Skomal, who exclaimed moments afterward, “Did you see that? Did you see that? It came right up and opened its mouth right at my feet!”

Skomal, who works for the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries, and fellow researchers have tagged more than 50 white sharks this season as part of a longterm behavioral study, according to the Cape Cod Times.

–Video and images are courtesy of the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy

Can you spot the hidden object in this shark photo?

William Buchheit captured an extraordinary great white shark image recently at Mexico’s Guadalupe Island.

William Buchheit captured an extraordinary great white shark image recently at Mexico’s Guadalupe Island. But he did not know how extraordinary until he got home and took a closer look.

“Thank God I didn’t delete it, for it wasn’t until a full week later when I opened the image on my computer that I discovered the magical moment I’d captured,” Buchheit, 43, told For The Win Outdoors.

The image, captured from aboard the San Diego-based Islander, shows a white shark breaching near the island. But the small object within the image makes it more unusual, and provides a fun test for those with a keen eye for detail.

Viewers should be able to spot the object without too much trouble, especially if they chose first to look at the larger image posted below.

(NOTE: The object is revealed and explained below.)

Buchheit, an avid shark diver from Spartanburg, S.C., was part of a cage-diving expedition at Guadalupe, a seasonal home to dozens of great white sharks.

The crew had been attracting sharks near divers in submerged cages with tuna as “hang baits” tied to the ends of ropes.

Buchheit, who was kneeling at the vessel’s stern, had been hoping merely to capture a shot of a shark’s dorsal fin in the morning light.

“Even though the sunlight was gorgeous, I didn’t consider this particular shot anything special when I first saw it, for I failed to see the tooth on the LCD screen,” he said.

After returning home, Buchheit spotted an airborne tooth near the shark’s head. The shark must have lost the tooth when it chomped on the tuna. (White sharks routinely lose teeth during attacks on prey. They have several rows, however, and lost teeth are quickly replaced.)

“To my knowledge there have only been two photos that ever captured a great white’s tooth in the air,” Buchheit said. “They were both shot from a much greater distance in South Africa.”

Feeding sharks is illegal at Guadalupe. Hang baits are used merely to keep sharks near cages, and bait handlers can usually pull them away from approaching sharks.

“This shark, however, was clever and developed an approach in which she launched toward the tuna like a missile from below,” Buchheit said. “The bait handlers couldn’t see her coming and she was successful in stealing the bait.”

Buchheit, who was on his third voyage to Guadalupe, said he was positioned 40-50 feet from where the shark surfaced. He was shooting with a Canon 1DX at 70 millimeters, in a manual setting at 1-1,200 of a second, F 6.3 and ISO 250.

–Images are courtesy of William Buchheit

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