INQUISITR.COM / News & Politics

Surfer With GoPro Chases Great White Shark Off Manhattan Beach

By Dustin Wicksell
Published on: 09:19 PST, Jul 12, 2015

A surfer has filmed himself chasing after a great white shark that bumped his board off the coast of Manhattan Beach, using a GoPro to record the animal before uploading the video to YouTube.

The clip depicts surfer Michael Davids as he paddles though the water roughly 40 yards from the shore of Manhattan Beach, according to the Daily Mail. Shortly after the footage begins, it appears that his board is struck from below, before Davids submerges his camera to reveal a seemingly disinterested white shark underneath him. In a Facebook post, Davids estimated the shark to be roughly seven-feet-long, making it a juvenile great white.

For several moments, Davids pursues the shark, which keeps its back to him the entire time. The great white seems hardly aware of the surfer, who paddles after the animal in order to record it. The clip concludes as the shark swims off and Davids raises the camera out of the water to catch his face as he gives a mock scream.

The video was taken on Sunday, July 5, according to UPI, yet it emerged online after a similar incident with a white shark transpired at Huntington Beach. Earlier this week, a small stretch of the coastline was closed for the first time ever, after a juvenile white shark bumped into a surfer’s board. As the Inquisitr previously reported, local officials considered the shark’s action to be a sign of aggressive behavior, leading them to temporarily evacuate the water.

A group of young white sharks have made headlines repeatedly since they were first spotted in the region earlier this year. While it is hardly unusual for sharks to be moving through the area as they migrate to the warmer waters off Baja, the young great whites have approached shorelines closer than usual, startling beachgoers. Though some swimmers have been off-put by the sharks’ presence, the animals pose little danger. At this stage of their development, they typically feed upon small fish and stingrays.

The sharks have been filmed numerous times by surfers and paddleboarders who have encountered them, or in some cases even sought them out. Officials in Seal Beach have also utilized a drone to observe the great whites from the air, warning beachgoers when the sharks are nearby.

[Image: Michael Davids via the Daily Mail]

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