These on an area whale watch had been handled to an epic feast on Wednesday once they had a front-row seat to a number of sharks scavenging a useless shark.
A shiver of blue sharks was noticed chomping on a useless basking shark floating off Cape Cod.
“WOAH! You NEVER know what you are going to see on a whale watch and today was the perfect example,” posted Captain John Boats.
“Our crew came across a dead basking shark that was being scavenged by 5-6 blue sharks!” Captain John Boats added. “It was an incredible sight.”
Whereas a lot of the main focus is on nice white sharks alongside the Cape, blue sharks are essentially the most plentiful massive shark in New England this time of yr, in keeping with shark biologist John Chisholm.
Researchers up to now have seen blue sharks feasting on a useless basking shark.
“They’re taking advantage of a big food source there,” Chisholm stated. “The oily slick coming off the carcass leads them to it.”
The useless basking shark had been reported to researchers earlier this week, and scientists needed to do a necropsy to determine its explanation for dying.
It has been a giant yr for basking sharks, with researchers estimating tons of across the area. 9 have been discovered useless. Basking sharks can die from boat collisions, getting tangled in lobster gear, and illness.
In the meantime on Wednesday, shark alerts had been popping off on the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy’s Sharktivity app — as many white sharks had been noticed near Cape seashores.
The shark alerts — that are despatched when a white shark sighting is confirmed near a public seaside — had been at Nauset ORV South, Marconi Seaside, Race Level Seaside, Maguire Touchdown, and Coast Guard Seaside.
Researchers on Wednesday had been out on the water attempting to tag sharks, and a pilot was up above searching for sharks.
“When they’re out, it gets real busy,” Chisholm stated of the analysis crew. “It makes a big difference.”
Final week, the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy analysis crew tagged “WS Champ” off the Cape — which was first documented and recognized in Canada in collaboration with Atlantic Shark Expeditions.
“Last week was the first time Champ has been encountered by the AWSC research team off of Cape Cod!” the Conservancy posted.
“In similar news, the team also encountered WS Pearl last week, another shark documented by ASE last year,” AWSC added. “Through collaborations such as these, we’re constantly learning more about the western north Atlantic population of white sharks!”
