Great White Shark Rockets From The Sea Along Australian Shoreline
Two fishermen were shocked to observe a great white shark rocketing out of the ocean along an Australian coastline recently, and experts assert that the four-meter-long predator may have been chased from the sea by another of its own species.
Footage of the great white shark’s breach was taken last month off Port Augusta, which is located north of Adelaide. Recreational angler Daniel Pittaway was wearing a camera attached to his hat, which allowed him to capture the surprising moment on film as he and another fisherman looked on. Pittaway said he had never seen anything quite like the white shark’s jump before, and pointed out that it was completely unexpected.
“I was just chasing kingfish there and just, sort of, dropped the baits down and looked up and there he was.”
[Video of Pittaway’s encounter with the great white shark can be viewed at Nine News.]
“@Earthjustice: Shark Puts Whales To Shame With Incredible Leap> http://t.co/jrXuauMVYA pic.twitter.com/3rhZBjxx5u“#sharks #apexpredator
— Skinny Girl Problems (@JenFitchberg) August 24, 2015
Anglers in the region have long reported seeing great white sharks leap from the sea, but weren’t always believed, as Nine News points out. While this behavior has been well documented in other locales (like off the coast of South Africa), researchers note that it isn’t often seen so close to shore. They assert that the shark’s surprising proximity to the beach could mean it was attempting to evade another, larger great white in the area.
RARE Great White Shark Breech in South Africa [0:15 Video] via @TheHautLife http://t.co/Kf48bGWmY6 pic.twitter.com/05JwcrZV5B — Robert Caruso (@fondalo) July 11, 2015
Great white sharks have been filmed numerous times this summer jumping from the water, both in attack attempts and seemingly for no reason. As the Inquisitr has previously reported, a cage diving company in South Africa filmed a great white inadvertently photobombing another shark as it leapt into the background of a video their divers were recording. Just a few weeks later, video also emerged of another white shark in the same area as it soared out of the sea like a missile.
Amazing Video Footage Of A #GreatWhiteShark Breach In Pursuit Of A Seal Off Cape Cod. http://t.co/nODsDXZ5N3 pic.twitter.com/vV6gO8pYtu
— @NuBlackVision (@NuBlackVision) August 19, 2015
Most recently, a breach attack was filmed by the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy off the coast of Cape Cod, as National Geographic reports. While researchers were aware that white sharks behaved in this fashion both in Massachusetts and elsewhere in the world, the video marked the first time that a great white shark has ever been filmed engaging in a breech attack in the region.
[Photo by Alexey Semeneev – Own Work via Wikimedia Commons | CC BY-SA 3.0]