What could possibly bring theLucky out of summer hiding?

Obvious it is a white shark sighting off the coast of Massachusetts.

Boston.com---The kayakers were paddling about a third of a mile off Chatham’s Lighthouse Beach on Saturday morning near a sandbar, where there is a colony of gray seals, when they had their close encounter, said Bruce Bean, 57, of Newton, who was with a friend, Rod MacKinnon of Brewster.

The men, experienced sea kayakers who have traveled the area many times, said they saw a seal about 20 to 30 feet away jumping out of bloody water and a black fin just 4 feet away from it. The fin extended about a foot above the water.

The seal jumped again, then swam toward the men and surfaced just 5 feet from their kayaks with “a big cloud of blood surrounding him,’’ said Bean.

“There was so much blood in the water when he surfaced that we couldn’t see past his head and shoulders’’ to determine what his injuries were, Bean said. The seal then headed in the direction of the sandbar.

Greg Skomal, a shark specialist with the state Division of Marine Fisheries, said the men apparently witnessed a great white shark hunting down its prey, adding that the report came from an area where similar sightings have been made in the past.

“We think it’s a great white shark,’’ Skomal said. “There’s not many species of sharks in New England that would attack a seal. . . . It’s certainly not a new phenomenon. It’s a natural event that’s been going on for a few years.’’

If you know anything about me or this blog you would know that I have been preaching that durning the summer months there is a large colony of white sharks not far off the coast of Massachusetts.

Props to the kayakers for doing the right thing.

With only thin hulls separating them from the ocean, the men pulled their kayaks together so as to appear bigger to the shark, following advice one of them had once received from a shark expert

This is exactly what they should have done.

I am sure what they saw looked like something like this.

At some point a shark is going to hit a human. Warnings should be out at least alerting people that specific areas are shark feeding grounds. This will cause panic, but in the society that we live in now with warning on everything, the public should know the facts.

Shark accidentally kills itself by going down water slide.

TMZ--But it was all too real when hotel staff saw that one of the sharks from the famous resort aquarium had somehow jumped out of its tank and onto a nearby water slide -- where it managed to slide down into the pool. It all went down before the pool opened Tuesday -- so nobody was in the water -- but here's where it gets tragic: A rep for the Atlantis tells TMZ the shark died a short time after swimming in the chlorinated water. Here's the heartbreaking statement: "Yesterday morning at around 9:30 AM, prior to the resort's waterscape opening to guests, a 12+-year-old female reef shark jumped over an 18 inch wide and 1 foot high sustaining structure into the resort's Leap of Faith water slide.

A while back I wrote about how sharks have invaded our swimming pools, but this is ridiculous.

I have been on that water slide before, and I would have been pissed to find a giant shark at the end of it. Mind you that you have to slide through the shark tank to get into the pool. Maybe that is what the shark was trying to do, get a different prospective of his surroundings. But its ironic how the water slide is called Leap of Faith, because that is exactly what the shark did.

White sharks in the Merrimack River?

Well this is the last day I am writing about sharks for awhile. I found this interesting story about a large shark that was spotted in the mouth of the Merrimack, in Newburyport. This happened about a year ago.
NEWBURYPORT, Mass. —

Chris Santarelli thinks he knows why the bluefish weren’t biting Wednesday.

Fishing about a mile outside the mouth of Merrimack River — near the large red buoy designated MR — Santarelli said he saw the biggest fish in his three decades of fishing, a marine creature he said reminded him of the movie “Jaws.”

“It was the biggest thing I’ve ever seen,” he said. “It was as big as my boat. I am almost sure it was a great white.

“There is a ton of bluefish around, and I’m sure that is why it is around. It was right where we’ve been catching blue fish for days, and there were none there.”

Santarelli, of Rowley, said the shark was at least 15 feet long and “the diameter of a 50-gallon drum.”

When it swam past the boat, “I saw the fin; it was 2 feet out of the water,” he said.

He said the shark was dark on top and light-colored underneath.

“I fish almost every other day, and I’ve never seen anything like this,” he said. “It was like right out of ‘Jaws,’ it was that big. It was so big, I just wanted to get out of there.

“This thing was humongous. It looked just like the one hanging at Hudson’s (marine shop in Salisbury).”

The local report comes after officials on Cape Cod issued shark warnings in recent days following the discovery of two seal carcasses that washed up on the beaches there, likely the result of great white shark attacks.

Newburyport is right on the border of Salisbury Mass and the New Hampshire beaches. The Merrimack is a very large river and we all know that river mouths are favorite hunting spots for Whites and other sharks. Fishing is excellent in the Merrimack, too; the Beast wades out onto the sandbars there every year for Stripers and Bluefish. Lots to eat there.

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Shark week picture of the day

As I am waiting for Manny news I might as well post a shark picture. This is the Greenland Shark, one of the largest sharks in the world. Not much is known about these shark. One remarkable feature about these fish is that even that they are incredibly slow moving they are able to catch fast moving seals. They have also been known to sit in the mouths of rivers and wait ambush style for caribou to swim across.

Bonus shark picture

Ha, this made me laugh.

Shark week picture of the day

Not every seal lion has to worry about being on sharks menus. Some have sharks on theirs.

pic source

Shark week picture of the day

I discussed how sharks will feed on dead whales, how about lives whales. Here are some tiger sharks taking on a humpback whale.

conversation report

Shark week picture of the day

Really impressive picture.

Shark Week

So as I mentioned before, this week is shark week. So I thought I would try and do some educating. And as a bonus try and do a cool shark picture of the day.

Its a myth that sharks are only found in salt water. There are a few that are found in freshwater. Even in the US. There is a report that someone was attacked in Lake Michigan back in 1947. I could not find any documentation of this, but it is well know that bull sharks have been found in the Mississippi as far up as Illinois.

So here are some freshwater shark ID charts. So if you are in freshwater and are getting attacked. Take a minute and try and identify the shark, before you run and scream out of the water.
pic 1 source
pic 2 source

Next week is shark week

I think I had a shark story everyday last week. Now with the Discovery Channel shark week coming up I am going to have to step up my shark stories. Maybe I get lucky and a tourist on the Vineyard will get attacked.



Picture source.

Today is the Oak Bluff Monster Shark Tournament

EDGARTOWN, Mass.—Dozens of fishermen are getting ready for a shark tournament off Martha's Vineyard despite protests from animal rights activists.

Organizer Steven James said about 200 boats will head out Friday and Saturday angling for mako, thresher and porbeagle sharks.

The Humane Society of the United States has criticized the tournament as cruel and says the laws protecting sharks aren't strict enough. Town selectmen also have banned the fishermen from using public land to stage the tournament.

James said 24 sharks were caught last year in a tournament with 262 boats. He said the Humane Society is on an "antifishing jihad."

The annual tournament is today and tomorrow. I always thought it was funny that they have it off the location where Jaws was filmed. Even though I have been a one man info commerical about the amount of white sharks off the coast, not one will be caught. They are actually a protected fish, making it illegal to catch one. It is possible that one might get hooked. But you would never know about it, unless it happened on one of the boats with the ESPN crew. What I think people are forgetting is what happened at last years tournament. I giant tiger shark was caught. As seen in the picture. This was a scientific break through. No one had any idea that we had tiger sharks in our waters. Most scientist say that it was just a anomaly. Which I sort-of agree with, but you just never know. I would probably say that tiger sharks are more dangerous than white sharks. They enjoy that same shallow water that we do, and have veracious appetites.
But by far the most dangerous sharks are the ones with laser beams attached to their heads. Fortunately for us, its tough for the lasers to work underwater. But the sharks have adapted. Instead of lasers they have been using blow darts. As seen in this picture.

Picture of the day

Sticking with the theme of the day. Shark jumps out of water behind surfer.

Sharks found in the middle of no where

Make it stop. Please. I had enough of these stupid fish. But I can not ignore this lasted report out of Georgia that there are toothless sharks that are turning up in ditches on the sides of roads. What are they doing lying next to the side of the road? I can understand the swimming pools, but this is now ridiculous.

GRIFFIN, Ga. -- State wildlife officials will try to learn Monday how a pile of dead sharks wound up on a rural Spalding County road.Drivers spotted the six sharks Sunday afternoon on the side of Minter Road near Griffin. Wildlife officials said it appears the sharks died recently.Griffin residents said they couldn’t believe their eyes."I thought they looked like sharks, but I can't freaking believe it," said resident Kara Davel. "I think it’s disgusting. People actually dump a lot of trash on this road."

There shouldn't be to much to fear from these sharks, as mentioned above they are toothless.

Good news, sharks are now in swimming pools

Yep, another shark story.

Sydney - A shark was found in a swimming pool at one of Sydney's most popular beaches on Friday, apparently swept into the baths by a freak wave.

The one-metre shark turned up in a rock pool situated next to the open ocean at Cronulla beach.

Cronulla Surf Lifesaving Club spokesperson Robyn Cole said fisheries officers netted the shark and released it back into the sea unharmed shortly after members of the public reported its presence in the pool on Friday morning.

"It was quite calm, just swimming happily up and down at one end of the pool," she told AFP.

"It's funny, though, because we have swimmers who come here at 06:00 every morning to do laps. It's still dark then and they mustn't have even noticed it was there."

Cole said the shark must have been swept into the pool overnight by a large wave.

"It's the first time we've had a shark in the pool," she said.

"We've had seals sunbaking there before, and get dolphins at the beach all the time, but I've never heard of a shark getting caught in a pool before."

It just keep getting better and better. Sharks are in lakes, on our beaches, in our bedrooms, and now these sons-of-bitches are in our swimming pools. I have a feeling my next story will be that sharks have infiltrated our toilets.

"Jaws" spotted off Martha Vineyard

This article was in the Herald today.

A Martha’s Vineyard harbor master raised the alarming prospect of “Jaws returning” after a large shark was spotted cutting through the waves just 70 yards off South Beach yesterday.

An eagle-eyed lifeguard spotted the menacing fin off the Edgartown strand and ordered everyone out of the water yesterday morning, moments before a sightseeing plane overhead spotted the monster gliding just below the surface.

“This is a large shark,” said Edgartown Harbor Master Charles Blair. “We don’t know the species. It was a pretty big fin spotted about 70 yards from the beach. It’s close enough for me. We got like Jaws returning over here.”

Blair spent hours yesterday in a fruitless hunt for the toothsome sea beast. But it managed to elude any further sightings, including an all-out aerial hunt waged by the state, which paid a pilot to search waters off the beach for two hours after the initial sightings.

Well I told you so. I guess I am going to write about sharks everyday now for the rest of the summer. Or at least until someone comes out and says what I have been saying for months. That there are freaking big sharks out there.

I was talking to my friend Kerri yesterday who is going to the Vineyard tomorrow for a week. I mentioned to her to be careful of the sharks. I don't think she believed me. I feel like I am the modern day Chief Brody. "Everybody Out of the Water".

Unfortunately I think it will take someone getting seriously injured before people start realizing the danger. Then once it happens, just like in the movie. People are going to have negative feelings towards these fish. Instead of embracing them. They are the apex predetor on the planet and we have an opportunity to see them up close. Its similar on going on jungle safaris and seeing lions and hyenas. Maybe I should start a shark tourism business? Hmmmm....

Good news, White Sharks are now in fresh water lakes

If you haven't guessed I have a thing for big fish. Specially white sharks. And I have been saying for a while that there are a ton of white sharks off the coast of Massachusetts. Now today I found this article coming out of Australia.

A LARGE great white shark has been sighted in a lake on the New South Wales Central Coast, prompting warnings for people to take caution in surrounding waterways.

A commercial fisherman snagged the beast this morning while casting nets off Canton Beach, on the north side of Tuggerah Lake, which opens into the Pacific Ocean at The Entrance.

A police statement said the man was forced to release his nets when the full-grown white shark, estimated to be up to seven metres long, became entangled in them.

NSW Police are working with Wyong Council, Surf Life Saving Australia, coastal patrols and the NSW Fisheries Department to monitor the area.

Police said people should take caution when using the interconnected waterways of Tuggerah Lake, Budgewoi Lake, Lake Munmorah and the Entrance Channel.

No one was injured during today's incident.

What people don't know is that Jaws the movie was based on a true story. In 1916 a shark terrorized a small New Jersey town. In a span of 10 days there were 5 attacks and 4 deaths. 2 of these attacks happened in Matawan creek. A small brackish creek that is no more than 15 feet across. Here is a picture of the creek.

Now it can never be proven that a white shark entered the creek to kill the two boys, but a 8ft white shark was killed in the bay shortly after with the shin bone of a human inside of it. This could have been from one of the other attacks. But white sharks do enter shallow water from time to time. As an example here is a video of a 14ft white shark that got stuck in a estuary on Cape Cod a few years ago. The picture at the top is from the same shark.

Now back to the story above, a seven meter shark in a lake is freaking huge. How can there not be any pictures of this? I'm sure there is, because this story is all over Australian news. I'm sure I will have one soon.

Someone is over due for a nasty bite this summer

Couple weeks ago I wrote about the first seal attack off the Cape. Now the second one is being reported. When will people start to realize that Massachusetts waters in the summer are pretty dangerous. The second report came yesterday.

30th June 2008

Fourteen passengers on a seal watch boat saw a shark attack and kill a seal yesterday during a cruise to Monomoy Island.

The island, which is a national wildlife refuge, is home to hundreds of seals and also a favored feeding ground of several species of sharks.

Capt. Bob Littlefield is sure the shark he saw rip a seal in half yesterday afternoon was a great white.

"It was a quite a bloody mess," said Littlefield, who has been a captain on Cape Cod for 32 years.

Littlefield was steering a 42-foot, high-speed catamaran owned by Monomoy Island Excursions of Harwich Port on the ocean side of Monomoy, where hundreds of seals were sunning and swimming, when suddenly there was a commotion in the water.

Littlefield, who said he had always wanted to see a shark eat a seal, turned the boat toward the area, which quickly became red with blood. As the boat got closer, the shark went under, taking half of the gray seal with it. The tour captain estimated the seal to be 300 to 400 pounds, and the shark to be between 14 and 16 feet.

Here are my favorites quotes: England Aquarium research scientist John Mandelman said it may have been a great white. But it also could have been a mako or thresher, he said. The latter species are also large fish, but not as large as the great white.

Are you really kidding me? Its not a white shark? What a asinine comment.

The last documented human death in a Massachusetts shark attack was in 1936, according to Tony LaCasse, spokesman for the New England Aquarium

And this death was by a white shark off Cape Cod.

LaCasse said there have been more reports of sharks attacking seals near Monomoy Island in recent years, but that doesn't necessarily mean more sharks.

"What we do know is that there are many more seal observation boats than ever before," he said.

So no way could there be more shark, just more boats. Dumb ass. Why can't someone just step up and say that people need to take precautions or else someone will get attacked. Most likely a surfer.

First white shark spotted this year off Cape Cod

BOSTON -- Two Massachusetts fishermen say they saw a great white shark off the coast of Martha's Vineyard in two separate incidents over the weekend.The fishing captains described the shark as wide and about 15 feet long, according to the Cape Cod Times.Capt. Buddy Vanderhoop, of Aquinnah, reported spotting the animal about 500 feet off Menemsha Beach in the early evening Capt. Scott McDowell, of Chilmark, reported spotting the shark while on a charter off Gay Head.A fisheries biologist who specializes in studying sharks for the state Division of Marine Fisheries told the Times that great whites -- made famous by the movie "Jaws," -- are not unusual off the coast of Massachusetts, but he said real sightings are relatively rare. He said many people often mistake basking sharks for great whites.

I love this shit. For the last couple years I have been making mental notes where white sharks have been spotted off the coast of Massachusetts. I can safely say that there is a large group of white sharks that come to Massachusetts waters during the summer months.

Why do I think they are here? To feed. The Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 saved seals off the coast of Massachusetts from extinction. Grey and harbor seals are thriving. Large adult white sharks main food source are marine mammals. So it makes sense that they are here. But there is just public denial that large numbers are here. Since people are not actively looking for them, every encounter is by accident. These accidents are becoming more and more frequent every summer. Its only a matter of time until someone spots a white shark off a public beach. There is really nothing to fear from these sharks, as long as you know the rules. Stay away from seal colonies. If you are swimming any where remotely close (few miles) from a colony you are in danger. Don't swim during dawn or dusk. Don't surf, nothing looks more like a seal than a wet suit and board. Don't swim alone. Even a full shark will investigate a single swimmer. Don't look like food. This means don't flap around in water. On the surface you don't want to create a lot of noise. Also keep your body in full extension, this will make you look larger and more intimidating. And finally you need to have good luck. Getting attacked by sharks is horrible luck, sometimes you are just in the wrong place at the wrong time, and there is nothing you can do about it.

And just so I am not crazy this picture is a actually white shark feeding on a seal off Cape Cod.

Boy attacked by shark in his own bedroom

Anyone involved in a shark attack would be considered unlucky – but few could claim to have been as luckless as Sam Hawthorne.

The teenager survived a terrifying ordeal when he was bitten in the face by one of the killer beasts – in his own bedroom.

The 'attack' happened when the 14-year-old sleepwalked into a long-dead souvenir shark hanging on the wall of his nautical-themed room.

He was left with the creature embedded in his cheek and blood pouring from a wound. His mother, Susan, said: 'It was like something out of a horror film.'

Jaws struck in the middle of the night at the family home in Dudley, West Midlands.

Mrs Hawthorne was woken by her son's screams but arrived too late to fend off the deadly fish – a holiday souvenir.

'The shark must have been embedded in Sam's cheek for about 15 minutes and he was in a lot of pain,' she said.

Fortunately, Sam escaped with just a small scar. 'It was the most frightening experience of my life,' he said.

Stories like this is what makes my work day fly by. I've heard a lot stories of people getting bite by a lot of stupid things (including myself). But getting attacked by a stuffed fish is just classic, and having it stuck to your face.

I have never witnessed someone sleep walking before, but if this kid got bite by a shark while sleep walking I am surprised that there is not more deaths associate with sleep walking. Or at least funny incidents like this one.