Kate BolduanA group of researchers came across an unusual sight off the coast of Massachusetts. They witnessed a feeding frenzy as a group of sharks fed on a humpback whale.
The researchers were a part of the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary and were on a trip to tag basking sharks off the coast of East Boston, Southwest News Service reports. Instead, they found a group of Great White sharks feasting on the carcass of a humpback whale.
The researchers speculated that the whale had actually been killed by human interaction and the sharks had just found the body. The body was too badly damaged, however, and the exact cause of death could not be determined.
Based upon markings on the whale’s tail, the animal was identified as a one-year-old calf. It is believed to be one of the offspring of a tagged humpback whale named Venom.
The researchers took advantage of the situation and tagged five of the feasting sharks. The sharks are rarely seen close to the surface of the water.
The body eventually sank towards the ocean floor and the researchers believe that it will provide food for sharks in the area for some time to come.
The calf’s body wasn’t tagged before it sank, but the researchers are hoping to locate it. Studying the body may reveal important information about the local ecosystem.
The Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary is a federally protected area of water located near the mouth of Massachusetts Bay. It is a popular whale-watching site.
Something Similar In Canada, Sharks Captured On Video Feasting On Whale Carcass In Bay Of Fundy
Whale watchers off Campobello Island got more than they bargained for.
Paul Keller first thought he was hearing water splashing on a rock in Canada. Turns out it was a large sharks splashing about as it tore into a whale carcass. They killed the whale and then started eating them like a feast.
“I’ve never seen anything even remotely close, other than, you know, documentaries on African lions feasting on the carcass of things,” said Keller.
He and his wife were vacationing on Campobello Island for the week, up from their home in China, Maine.
Keller said he was exploring the shoreline behind the cottage they’d rented when he came across the hungry shark eating a dead whale that he estimates was about 7½ metres away.
“It was kind of surreal, the intestine of the whale was hanging out,” said Keller. “It was kind of morbid.”
Keller filmed the encounter on his cellphone. He managed to get video of the shark breaching the surface of the ocean to come up and take a bite.
It was “physically coming out of the water with his whole head and biting and tearing, doing that sawing motion back and forth, tearing flesh off,” said Keller.
The scene was also visited by a whale-watching vessel, full of people who had signed up to see live whales. They got an unexpected eyeful.
“I was a little bit worried that people would be upset about it,” said Ralph Dennison, the captain of the Tarquin, a whale-watching vessel with Downeast Charter Boat Tours in Lubec, Maine.
“But when they seen the sharks and all that, most people thought, ‘Wow, that’s pretty cool.’
“I mean, that’s raw nature.”
Dennison, who believes it was a great white shark, said he ventured close to get photos of the whale carcass to share with researchers who may be interested in its demise.
Dennison said he can’t be certain, but he suspects the it was a minke whale that had been dead for a while before the carcass attracted the hungry shark.
“It was starting to be quite decomposed, but it had been fed on a lot too,” said Dennison. “There were big, big round bite marks from sharks in it and, you know, one of the bite marks had to be at least 18 inches in diameter.”
As a boat captain for the last 14 years he said he is noticing more great white sharks in the Bay of Fundy.
“We see more and more often seals up on the rocks when they haul out that have bite marks in them,” said Dennison.
AP
Jessica Schiffer
Alessandra Signorelli
Amandine Lhoste
Eva Thomas