Some nice white sharks are nonetheless sticking across the Cape to take pleasure in Thanksgiving feasts, together with one apex predator that was lately seen chomping on a seal off Chatham.
A shark attacked a grey seal off the southern level of Monomoy Island over the weekend, ripping out the seal’s decrease again and far of the prey’s facet, in response to a Cape Cod seal cruise operator.
The nice white devouring the seal was reported to the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy.
“On a Monomoy Island Excursion with Captain Pete and the seal got hit by the Shark right in front of us!!” the shark spotter wrote on the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy’s Sharktivity app. The report included a bloody picture, exhibiting the assault’s aftermath.
While the climate turns colder, November stays the fifth busiest month for shark exercise off the Cape and alongside Massachusetts. Last yr, the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy recorded 14,192 nice white shark detections at their receivers throughout November.
Monomoy Island Excursions out of Harwich Port takes folks out to Monomoy, a barrier island and wildlife refuge off the coast of Chatham, the place 1000’s of seals stay. Sharks in the summertime and fall prowl alongside Monomoy Island, feasting on scores of seals.
“WARNING graphic photos,” Monomoy Island Excursions posted on Facebook. “Yesterday on our seal cruise we happened to be at the right place at the right time and witnessed a shark predation of a gray seal! Bad day to be a seal, but a great day to be a great white!”
The seal cruise operator mentioned the shark assault occurred in a short time, in order that they weren’t in a position to get a photograph of the apex predator.
“After the attack the gray seal, with his lower back and much of his side missing, was able to swim quickly to the shore,” Monomoy Island Excursions wrote. “He even was in a position to turn out to be totally airborne at occasions on his swim in!
“At the shoreline, he succumbed to his wounds and the haulout above him was completely unfazed by the interaction,” the cruise operator added. “The haulout was mainly gray seals but there were a number of harbor seals as well.”
Meanwhile, off the Cape’s northern edge final week, a spotter reported seeing a big distinct fin about 200 yards offshore Truro’s High Head Beach. The birdwatcher’s report was an unconfirmed shark sighting, in response to the Sharktivity app.
Many sharks have headed south for the winter, however the OCEARCH app reveals a couple of of its tagged sharks alongside the Cape and Islands. That consists of Maple, a 12-foot feminine that was tagged final September off Nova Scotia. She lately pinged off of Eastham.
Also, the 12-foot feminine named Miss Costa was lately detected off the southern facet of Nantucket. She was tagged close to the Massachusetts island in September 2016.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”