This is thought to be the first time a great white shark has been caught on a beach in Alabama. A great white shark was unexpectedly reeled in by two fishing guides and their customers.
An object began to pull on one of their heavy-duty lines early on March 7, according to Dylan Wier and Blaine Kenny, the owners of fishing guide service Coastal World Wide, based in Pensacola.
After a 32-minute battle, the men claimed they initially believed they had hooked a large tiger shark, but were shocked to find they had actually reeled in an 11-foot great white shark.
Marcus Drymon, a Mississippi State University assistant extension professor who serves as a shark expert for the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resource, said the shark is believed to be the first great white ever caught from an Alabama beach.
Drymon said great white sharks are known to pass through the Gulf of Mexico waters off the state’s coast, but they rarely come close enough to land for beach-based anglers to encounter.
Wier and Kenney said the shark was released after the guides and their clients snapped some quick photos.
The great white shark, also known as the white shark, white pointer, or simply great white, is a species of large mackerel shark that can be found in the coastal surface waters of all the major oceans. It is notable for its size, with the largest preserved female specimen measuring 5.83 m (19.1 ft) in length and around 2,000 kg (4,410 lb) in weight at maturity.
However, most are smaller; males measure 3.4 to 4.0 m (11 to 13 ft), and females measure 4.6 to 4.9 m (15 to 16 ft) on average. According to a 2014 study, the lifespan of great white sharks is estimated to be as long as 70 years or more, well above previous estimates, making it one of the longest-lived cartilaginous fishes currently known.
According to the same study, male great white sharks take 26 years to reach sexual maturity, while females take 33 years to be ready to produce offspring. Great white sharks can swim at speeds of 25 km/h (16 mph) for short bursts and to depths of 1,200 m (3,900 ft).
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The great white shark is an apex predator, as it has no known natural predators other than, on very rare occasions, the orca. It is arguably the world’s largest-known extant macro predatory fish, and is one of the primary predators of marine mammals, up to the size of large baleen whales. This shark is also known to prey upon a variety of other marine animals, including fish, and seabirds. It is the only known surviving species of its genus Carcharodon and is responsible for more recorded human bite incidents than any other shark.
