The Atlantic White Shark Conservancy (AWSC) recently shared footage of a great white shark as it horrifyingly attacked a seal on waters close to Cape Cod coast.  

A Live Science report said an onlooker on a boat captured the video. Peak shark season along coastal Massachusetts is usually from August until October.

However, great white sharks continue cruising and hunting in coastal waters well into November, as the shark captured in the video. They demonstrated early this month close to the southern tip of a sandy stretch of land called Monomoy Island, extending for eight miles or 13 kilometers to the southwest of Chatham, Massachusetts.

R. Nossa captured two video clips, the boater earlier mentioned, and the duration of that particular footage is 32 seconds.

The footage shows the shark's dorsal fin briefly appearing on top of the water's surface, accompanied by lots of beating and a spreading pool of what this report described as blood.

ALSO READ: Friendly Sharks? A New Study Shows They Also Make Friends With Other Sharks

Science Times - [Watch] Footage of Great White Shark Gruesomely Attacking a Seal on Cape Cod Shared on Twitter
(Photo : Bernard DUPONT from FRANCE on Wikimedia Commons)
Great White Shark (Carcharodon carcharias) attacking a seal


'Seal Predation'

Since much of the attack happened at a distance and under, it is challenging to view exactly what is going on in the video. However, representatives at AWSC described the shark attack in the Twitter post as "seal predation." 

 

Great white sharks, also known as Carcharodon carcharias, are among the most widespread living shark species.

According to Vancouver, Canada-based ReefQuest Centre for Shark Research, they live in coastal and offshore waters globally, where sea-surface temperatures range from 45 to 81 degrees Fahrenheit or seven to 27 degrees Celsius.

The AWSC explained that the sharks are frequent visitors to the Cape Cod area, specifically in the late summer and early fall, during the peak season.

However, conservation work that protects sharks and seals sparked booms in population for both the predator and prey in recent decades.

This, in turn, has resulted in an uptick in shark detections in New England waters, with some sharks that venture as near as three meters or 10 feet from the shore. Boston University representatives reported this in September last year.

Seal Populations

According to fisheries biologist Greg Skomal at the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries, "seal populations are responding to conservation," and they show up in sites where they used to be in the United States and Canada. He added population of the white sharks "has been rebounding."

Recently, researchers discovered that great white sharks may attack humans, not because of a taste for human flesh but because they are mistaking humans for seals.

Nonetheless, such attacks are infrequent, with only 57 cases of "unprovoked" bites when a swimmer did not interact with the shark before the attack, recorded in 2020 worldwide.

The said number of cases was indicated in the Yearly Worldwide Shark Attack Summary published by the Florida Museum of National History's International Worldwide Shark Attack File.

 

RELATED ARTICLE: Who's Responsible for the Disappearance of the Great White Sharks in Cape Town?

Check out more news and information on Sharks in Science Times.