'Large' Hammerhead Shark Spotted Feeding Near Shore of Dog Beach: Video

Writer, Trends

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A "large" hammerhead shark was spotted feeding close to the shore of a dog beach in Ponce Inlet, Florida on Monday, according to multiple reports.

Fox 35 News said that Joey Fuquay and his family were walking the beach when they noticed the shark's dorsal fin skimming the surface of the water. In a video obtained by the news station, Fuquay's entire family can be heard expressing shock and excitement at the sight that has become somewhat common throughout the state.

"Oh my goodness!" shouted Fuquay's wife. "Wow!"

"I see it!" added his daughter.

At first, the shark's dorsal fin is the only discernible part of its body. But as the shark inches closer to the shore, and as it starts to thrash around in the waves, its back and the top of its caudal fin become visible, too.

"Look how close it is to the beach," Fuquay said. "That's a big shark."

According to Fox 35 News, the shark was estimated to be between 10- and 12-feet long. Thankfully, no one was in the water; however, there were a few dogs near the shore.

"I have never seen a shark this close to the beach," Fuquay told Newsweek. "Although it was in the inlet where sharks have been spotted, it was alarming that this size shark was close to a beach where dogs and people gather."

Hammerheads are a relatively common sight to behold in Florida. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) said that great hammerhead sharks are native to the state and can be found in the shallow waters of the state's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. Meanwhile, scalloped hammerheads commonly inhabit the "continental and insular shelves of the Florida Gulf and Atlantic coasts."

Last year, three women were circled by seven hammerhead sharks in the water off a beach near Pensacola. Speaking to Fox 10 News, one of the women, Lacey Faciane, said the experience was "awesome."

"Usually you have to pay for that and we didn't have to pay for that," she said.

Texas-based marine biologist and shark expert Jonathan Davis recently told Newsweek that it's not uncommon for people to encounter hammerhead sharks in shallow waters because this is where hammerheads live. Fortunately, this doesn't make the species a threat to humans.

"I would not classify hammerheads as a danger to humans and would definitely put their 'attack' rate as very rare," he said.

As it turns out, the hammerhead spotted on Monday isn't the first Ponce Inlet shark to make headlines. In 2018, Kyle Morningstar was pulling up the anchor of his boat when he noticed a "giant" great white shark swimming nearby.

"It did two to three laps around my boat," he told Fox News. "It was well over half the length of my boat...we guess it was around a 12- to 15-foot shark."