Against the backdrop of a recent case in Hurghada, where a young man was mauled by a marine predator, the news of a horde of hammerhead sharks that were seen this past weekend on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico is doubly frightening. Read more about how people reacted to unexpected guests, says the New York Post.
A video taken by one of the vacationers on a mobile phone camera showed a group of great hammerhead sharks swimming alongside pleasure yachts and people still in the water near Robinson Island in Orange Beach, Alabama.
“We were in the water on the north side of the boat and all of a sudden we heard people screaming ‘shark’ and saw people scrambling to get into their boats,” said Hubble, one of the witnesses to the incident. “There were between 4 and 6 and they were just floundering in the water chasing the bait.”
University of New Orleans marine biologist Dr. Kelly Boyle says hammerhead sharks are a common species in the Gulf of Mexico.
“They’re not really interested in people,” Boyle said. “They’re interested in smaller fish. So it’s nice to see them and show them respect.”