Monday, August 4, 2008

Snopes.com-Busting Shark Stories Wide Open

Another day another 15 emails from our shark blog fans with the following story. For the record this shark ain't what you think:

Hey Shark Divers,

Have you seen this?! Holy Crap!

OCEANSHORES, WASHINGTON

While the ocean vessel 'Dawn Raider' was commercial fishing for dogfish, this Great White Shark was hooked in the mouth.

It only resisted slightly for 15 mins before it came up alongside the boat to have a look; just long enough for one of the crew members to slip a rope around its tail! And that's when the fun began. The Shark took off towing the 42-foot fishing boat backwards through the water at an estimated 7 knots. Just like in JAWS, the boat was taking on water over the stern and the crew watched in horror as the shark would actually jump completely out of the water at times. This went on for an hour before the shark finally drowned.

She weighed in at 1,035 pounds. It is suspected she followed a weak El Nino current into local Washington waters in search of food. Although mid- 60 degree water is considered ideal for these sharks, the larger ones can tolerate water in the low 50s.

Editors Note: Snopes.com busted this story wide open back in 2004...and that's not a Great White it's a "Honkin' Big Mako".

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