Shark spotted feasting on harbor porpoise off Maine coast: ‘Amazing sighting… they don’t just eat seals’
Seals aren’t the only meal on the menu for great white sharks off the New England coast.
A white shark was recently spotted feasting on a harbor porpoise off the Maine coast, an “amazing sighting” that shows the apex predators are not limited to Cape Cod during the summer — and they also eat other prey.
The shark on Friday was seen chomping on the porpoise around Cliff Island in Casco Bay, which is near the site where a woman was killed by a great white two years ago.
“Thanks to citizen scientists Kasey Lyn Watkins and family for sending me info about their amazing sighting,” posted MA Sharks, which is run by local shark expert John Chisholm, who confirms sightings for the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy’s Sharktivity app.
“They spotted this juvenile white shark feeding on a harbor porpoise off Maine,” Chisholm added. “It’s a good reminder that white sharks occur off Maine and they don’t just eat seals.”
While Cape Cod is usually the focus of shark activity this time of year, Maine has had several great white sightings and predation incidents caught on camera this summer. That included a spotter seeing a great white shark bite a seal in half off Pemaquid Point in Bristol, as well as a shark seen killing and eating a seal off Whitehead Island Lighthouse.
Cliff Island in Casco Bay is close to Harpswell’s Bailey Island, where a woman was killed by a shark two years ago. It was Maine’s first reported deadly shark attack in its history.
“Remember if you are lucky enough to see a white shark please report it,” MA Sharks posted after the shark was spotted eating the harbor porpoise. “You can use the Sharktivity app or, if you’re in ME, you can also use the DMR shark sighting report page.”
Meanwhile, the Sharktivity app lit up with shark sightings off the Cape over the weekend, with many reports of apex predators close to shore during the busiest shark month of the year.
The Sharktivity app issued a shark alert Sunday morning after a white shark was spotted about 50 yards offshore Nauset Beach in Orleans. Also, a spotter posted a photo of a massive 16- to 18-foot great white shark off Chatham’s Monomoy Island, which is a hotspot for great whites during the summer and early fall.
Hammerhead sharks have been seen more frequently off of Martha’s Vineyard this summer, sparking beach swimming closures. That continued over the weekend when a hammerhead sighting triggered the temporary closures of South Beach and Norton Point Beach.
from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/1FikWeu
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