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A shark at Cape Lookout NC!!

10K views 31 replies 22 participants last post by  US27inKS 
#1 ·
OK ... I uploaded a video to youtube we took this past weekend of what we are assuming is a shark at Cape Lookout NC.

YouTube - A shark at Cape Lookout NC

Is there any doubt at all that this was a shark? If so let me know. I've already been exaggerating the story to sound like we had to fight it off with our bare hands...at least I want to hear others agree it was a shark.

Anybody have a theory of how big, what type etc??
 
#5 ·
I don't think it was a shark.

It looked very much like the Cownose Rays (Rhinoptera bonasus) we routinely see in the Chesapeake. They sometimes "fly" along the surface while feeding, and their "wing tips" will frequently break the surface, looking somewhat like the dorsal fin of a shark, but usually floppier.
 
#10 ·
Only shark that can move left and right so sharply is a hammerhead, yet NC would be too cold for them... I don't think it's shark either...
 
#19 ·
There's plenty of agile sharks that can move as quickly, not just hammerheads. Hammerheads (mostly scalloped) have been documented as far north as 45 degrees N latitude.

However, I agree with the others that the animal in the video is not a shark. As was previously mentioned, if that was the dorsal fin of a shark you would also see the caudal (tail) fin. Most likely it is a ray feeding or removing parasites.
 
#11 ·
I think it's a ray too... although when we were at Cape Lookout last year we caught about 6 smaller sharks while fishing. No larger than about 2.5 feet. It wouldn't surprise me if there are larger sharks in the Bight though.
 
#13 ·
Must assuredly not a shark, you will not have seen the dorsal fin like that without seeing the caudal fin as well. My experience would point this towards being a ray also.

Only one way to tell though, go back and have a swim with it :eek: be sure to have your camera ready
 
#14 ·
Well maybe it was a ray....but I still had to fight it off with my bare hands...

I had considered the idea of a stingray but the ones I have seen don't have a fin like that could stick that far out of the water. I may see if I can find some NC fisheries expert for their opinion.
 
#20 ·
it is a sun fish they grow quite large,we used to love coming up on one of those with a newbe on board, we would shake fins with them. the dead giveaway is no tailfin ,a cruising shark will always show the tailfin also ivce seen about a thousand of them in the gulf stream,but they do come close to shore
 
#25 ·
#26 ·
Still . . . that animation was sick! :D

My wife and I were kayaking through the Florida Keys mangroves a couple of years ago and witnessed a similar sight. The guide we were with said the "wings" of spotted rays are commonly seen darting above the water's surface during feeding and mating - which they often do close to the surface.

My wife was later freaked out, when two of them swam directly under her boat, surfacing just a few feet away.
 
#30 ·
I have seen ocean sunfish (Mola mola) on quite a few occasions too, but only in the ocean. My understanding was this video is from Pamlico Sound. But maybe I made a false assumption??

Was this video taken out in the ocean? It appeared to be in a protected/embayed anchorage.

Also, any time I've seen Mola mola they have sailed along smoothly just below the surface, with a steady, purposeful swimming pattern, making slow graceful turns. Rays on the other hand, will lurch, surge, turn, flop and make a lot of surface commotion, which is what I saw in the video.

But I am not ruling out the Sea Serpant yet...:D :D :D
 
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