A gruesome underwater buffet drew a pack of hungry sharks to California’s central coast Friday, where drone footage captured the predators tearing into the rotting carcass of a dead whale in a feeding frenzy.
The dramatic video, filmed off Martin’s Beach just south of Half Moon Bay, showed everything from juvenile great white sharks to massive adults circling the floating whale before lunging in to rip off chunks of blubber.
The predators took turns darting in and out of the animals decomposing carcass like diners at some kind of all-you-can-eat buffet, feasting on the whale — the latest sign of increased shark activity along California’s coastline.
“I spent most of the day filming multiple Great Whites tear apart this whale carcass,” drone operator Sammy Rigling wrote about the action he posted on social media.
“I must have seen 6-8 different sharks throughout the day. A handful of juveniles and 2 or 3 large Whites.”
One shark he estimated was at least 15 feet long. In a second video, he posted a close up of all the action noting that Shark week came early this year.
The area is known as a natural habitat for the great whites.
Experts have said they expect more juvenile white sharks than typical along the coastline of Southern California up to Monterey this summer, due to unusually high ocean temperatures pushing them up the coast from Mexico.
The wild video surfaces just days after two paddle boarders were stalked by a great white, as a drone video showed the predator appearing to track them off the coast of Santa Barbara.
The two were visiting family during Father’s Day weekend and had initially heard about the shark sighting before going off to locate it.
An uncle of one of the paddle boarders had flown a drone to try to help them locate the shark, but the pair eventually came back to the shore thinking they had missed it.
“The feeling is a mix of adrenaline and just this excitement mixed with this –– it’s a big deal. Like probably shouldn’t be doing that. There’s a moment it becomes real, especially when I saw the shark,” Robert Kagan, one of the paddle boarders, told ABC.
“As soon as I saw the shark I started telling Kayla [Ross]. … We were terrified going back to shore,” he added.
“He said that he saw something. … But I didn’t see it because I was just looking forward, paddling. So I didn’t know what he saw, how big it was, so we just went straight back,”Kayla Ross also commented.
A similar incident also occurred in early June when a large shark swam close to a surfer off the coast of Aptos near Santa Cruz.
Shark sightings have increased at California beaches with experts predicting a “sharky summer” as a result of abnormal warm weather and the start of the El Niño cycle.
Read the full article here
