Watch a great white shark prey on a seal along Cape Cod coast in Massachusetts
Although winter is due to arrive in roughly a month, that doesn’t mean great white sharks have left the chilly waters of Cape Cod, Massachusetts.
A great white, also called a “white shark,” was captured on camera preying on a seal along the cape’s coast on Nov. 7 in a newly shared video from the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy, a nonprofit in the area.
“Even though we have passed peak season for white shark activity along the Cape Cod coast, it is important to note that white sharks are still in the area,” the organization wrote on Twitter Nov. 17.
As one of the world’s largest predatory fish, according to National Geographic, the shark is seen attacking the unfortunate seal close to a sandy shore near the tip of Monomoy Island, the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy said.
“During the summer and fall months, white sharks hunt for seals along the coast, often in shallow water close to shore,” Megan Winton, a staff scientist at the conservancy, told McClatchy News in a statement.
Peak great white shark season in the area occurs between late July and October, she noted.
However, these marine creatures can arrive as early as May and sometimes stay until December, Winton said.
In November, the water temperature of Cape Cod is typically around 47 degrees Fahrenheit at its coldest and 54 degrees at its highest temperature, according to Watertemperature.net.
Over the past decade, sightings of great whites have increased off Cape Cod, largely due to an increase in seal populations, the conservancy notes online.
In that time, “the coastal waters off Cape Cod have emerged as the only known aggregation site for the white shark in the western North Atlantic,” Winton said.
As of 2005, great whites were designated as a protected species in the state after they were often hunted as trophies.
Grey seal populations were lower in the western North Atlantic Ocean through the 20th century due to widespread hunting until killing seals was outlawed in Massachusetts in the 1960s, according to the conservancy.
Then, the nation followed Massachusetts with the Marine Mammal Protection Act in 1972, banning the killing of seals, causing seals to repopulate.
“With the resurgence of seal numbers, sharks have returned to the waters in search of a steady food supply,” the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy noted.
On average, great white sharks grow to 15 feet long, while some have been measured past 20 feet and as heavy as 5,000 pounds, according to National Geographic.
This story was originally published November 18, 2021 at 11:26 AM with the headline "Watch a great white shark prey on a seal along Cape Cod coast in Massachusetts."
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