. . . if you're in Australian waters, that is! The Daily Mail reports:
A 'monster' great white shark measuring up to 20 ft long is on the prowl off a popular Queensland beach, according to officials.
Swimmers were warned to stay out of the water off Stradbroke Island after the shark mauled another smaller great white which had been hooked on a baited drum line.
The 10-foot great white was almost bitten in half.
The fictional shark at the centre of the Steven Spielberg blockbuster Jaws was estimated to be just five feet longer.
'It certainly opened up my eyes. I mean the shark that was caught is a substantial shark in itself,' says Jeff Krause of Queensland Fisheries.
The great white, the most dangerous creature in the sea, was still alive when hauled onto a boat near Deadman's Beach off north Stradbroke island.
News of the shocking attack on the smaller shark has sent jitters along the Queensland coast from Stradbroke Island, near Brisbane, to the Sunshine Coast further north down to the tourist mecca of Surfers Paradise, south of Brisbane.
'Whatever attacked and took chunks out of this big shark must be massive,' said 19-year-old surfer Ashton Smith. 'I've heard about the big one that's lurking out there somewhere.
'We're all being very, very cautious.'
There's more at the link.
Here's a video report from an Australian news broadcast.
Holy cow! Looking at the bite marks on that shark, I don't think I want to see what made them in the flesh - particularly not in my flesh!
Peter
4 comments:
Most dangerous creature in the sea, my hind foot. Australia has several species of jellyfish that I'm a hell of a lot more afraid of, if only because they have little choice or manueverability, whereas the shark won't be interested unless it makes a targeting error. I'm far too lean to be worth the effort to a shark that size.
Still, I'd rather be on the surface with something like that swimming around. I think I'd skip swimming in open water until this thing is found.
Something that always makes me laugh here in Sydney is this:
when the shark alarm bell goes off in the beaches, everyone in the water swims/walks/runs/jumps out.
And everyone NEAR the water front runs up to the first dune!
WTH???
I've long held the opinion that I don't want to be in any body of water with things swimming in it larger than I am.
And now we start the countdown until the creature, which at that size is a very old specimen and remarkable and worth studying on many levels, is hunted down and destroyed for pubic safety. John Q. Public doesn't have the common sense of a grapefruit, will get in the water regardless of warnings, and will be victim of either what LabRat called a targeting failure or simple curiosity, and once the twit's remains are either found or missing for an adequate time, the call will go out to hunt it down, probably taking a few more of these incredible and very hard to replace predators out as collateral damage. For the public good!
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