Shark Florida Beach Pier: Shark Fin At Jacksonville Beach Causes Panic, Excitement

A shark at a Florida beach pier caused beach-goers to hurry out of the water after someone spotted a fin. According to the Canada Journal, no one was injured, though many were frightened to learn that there were sharks nearby. However, once people were safe, many rushed over to the pier — some even getting into the water — to snap pictures of the shark.

Shark sighting @ Jax Beach clears springbreakers from the H2o. 6 foot bull shark @wjxt4 @WJXTTarikMinor pic.twitter.com/uy1wDRrMVT

— Tarik Minor (@WJXTTarikMinor) March 16, 2015

“I was playing soccer, and then I saw everybody just stop, looking, and I’m like, ‘What’s everybody looking at?’ And then I turn around and I see just everybody running, and there’s a shark. It’s about a 6-foot shark. Instead of everybody running away, everybody is coming to the water, we’re checking it out, we’re pretty close to it. It was pretty cool, you know,” said one witness named Admir Osmanovic, who has been going to that beach for the past 15 years.

The shark at the Florida beach pier was quite a strange sight, as many in the area had never seen a shark in Jacksonville, and not at that particular beach. According to NewsMax, this was not exactly a random occurrence. A fisherman in the area had actually caught the shark (he believes it was a bull shark), and had reeled it in. He says that he was forced to let it go.

“I was told by law enforcement officers and lifeguards to do not touch the shark and to let it go. I’ve been waiting for a long time to catch something that size, to be able to land it and keep it for my own, and I definitely feel that was kind of taken from me,” said the fisherman, who was hoping to sell the shark meat for about $16 per pound.

If the shark was indeed a bull shark, it could have proved to be aggressive. According to National Geographic, bull sharks will eat just about anything, from dolphins to other sharks. While humans are not a high priority for these guys, bull sharks will attack people purely out of curiosity. Fortunately, no one was attacked by this particular shark, who eventually swam on to deeper waters.

As previously reported by the Inquisitr, the last reported bull shark attack that resulted in death in the state of Florida was in 2005.

[Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons]