A spotted great white shark feasting on a seal carcass near Cape Cod
A great white shark was spotted munching on a seal off Cape Cod this weekend, a sure sign that summer is just around the corner.
The Saturday morning sighting by the crew and passengers of a vessel operated by Dolphin Fleet Whale Watch was the first confirmed white shark sighting of the season in area waters.
The attack at the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, about 8km off the coast, was filmed by company employee Michelle Silva.
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“The whole event only lasted about 7 minutes from when we saw the shark rapidly breaking the surface of the water, in what we believe was the initial strike, until when the seal was consumed,” the whale-watching company said on social media.
When the shark rises to the surface to grab a piece of seal flesh in its jaws, the approximately 150 passengers can be heard gasping in awe.
A great white shark swims about 50 yards off the Cape Cod National Sea coast in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, July 15, 2022. (JOSEPH PREZIOSO/AFP via Getty Images)
The shark was about 12 feet long, the company said.
It is rare for whale-watching vessels to spot sharks, and almost never seen them feeding.
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“To witness a full predation event is very rare,” company naturalist Andrea Spence said Monday.
The Cape Cod-based Atlantic White Shark Conservancy and the New England Aquarium in Boston both said Monday it was the first eye sighting of a white shark this season.
Cape Cod is the only known white shark aggregation site in the northwest Atlantic. Large predators have returned to the area in large numbers in recent years to feed on the rebounding seal population. Although there was a deadly attack by white sharks in Cape Cod waters in 2018, they pose little threat to humans, experts say.
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“Although white shark bites on humans are rare, the sighting reminds swimmers and boaters to be aware of the presence of these marine animals,” said John Chisholm, assistant scientist at the Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life. of the New England Aquarium. A declaration.
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