Sunfish Or Shark? Massachusetts Investigates Dual Great White Sightings
Authorities in Massachusetts are investigating a pair of great white shark sightings in the areas off Nantasket and Duxbury beaches. While they assert that swimmers who head into the water are doing so at their own risk, the predators haven’t been located.
According to NECN, a person described only as a civilian sighted a great white shark a mile off of Nantasket Beach, prompting the local harbormaster to investigate. A second shark sighting occurred around 11 a.m. on Sunday off Duxbury beach, in an area heavily populated with seals. A patrol boat was dispatched to investigate, yet was unable to spot the great white, according to Wicked Local.
Great White Shark Breaching. Awesome. pic.twitter.com/sdspFFO3lR
— Stunning Wildlife (@SWildlifepics) September 24, 2014
Duxbury Assistant Harbormaster Jake Emerson related that while no great whites were sighted by authorities, another animal often mistaken for a shark was readily observable.
“We spent two hours of looking around in the area,” Emerson asserted. “We definitely have sunfish out there.”
Just in from the #HullHM, the siting of a Mola Mola. They look like a shark, but it’s just a big sunfish! pic.twitter.com/Cv9oUqxxPB
— SS Harbormasters (@ssharbormasters) September 28, 2014
Emerson said that authorities spotted two oceanic sunfish in the immediate area. Casual observers often can mistake sunfish for sharks when their fins are sighted carving through the water, an image commonly associated with great whites. Sunfish are often spotted basking near the surface of the water, and it is in these moments they are easily mistaken for a shark.
Salt Water sunfish at the PP pic.twitter.com/7s8IbyeJmM
— Xander de Roetth (@Zdlax26) September 27, 2014
If the two sunfish spotted by authorities were indeed the cause of the shark reports, it wouldn’t be the first time recently that such a mistake has been made. As The Inquisitr previously noted, beaches in Marshfield were closed in late August after a reported sighting of a great white. When harbormasters investigated, they were able to determine that the shark was most likely an oceanic sunfish, despite multiple reports of a great white. The incident came just days after a 15-foot-long great white prompted Duxbury officials to evacuate beachgoers from the water after it was sighted near the shoreline.
While sunfish may be responsible for the sightings, sharks are common in the area surrounding Cape Cod. A great white tagged there last year by OCEARCH researchers, named Katharine, recently returned to the area after spending a year swimming south along the Eastern Seaboard and exploring the Gulf of Mexico.
Despite uncertainties about the great white sightings, Duxbury authorities warned beachgoers to remain in shallow water, and swim at their own risk.
[Image via Ken Jones Fishing]
