VIDEO: Hammerhead shark gives birth on beach in Florida as stunned crowd looks on

Correction: The shark did not give birth because it's a male and what detached from the shark were remoras.
globalnews.ca...

A number of sources reported the shark gave birth to a number of pups, which then appeared to squirm away from the shark back into the Gulf of Mexico. Global News contacted University of Florida shark expert Dr. George Burgess to verify what is seen in the video.

Burgess said they were not hammerhead pups, but remoras.

Found an odd story today. A fisherman in Panama Beach, Florida, pulls a female hammerhead shark onto shore where it proceeds to give birth. On lookers said the shark kept swimming close to shore and no matter how many times the people would coax it back into deeper waters it refused to comply. Sadly the shark died later that day after giving birth.



www.nydailynews.com...

Most expectant moms want a bit of peace and quiet when they deliver.
But extraordinary video footage captured Monday shows how crowds gathered just to get a glimpse of the moment a hammerhead shark gives birth to a litter of pups on at Panama Beach, Fla.

Moments after being pulled from the water by a fisherman, the 5-foot shark can be seen moving about frantically on the beach, while stunned passersby spot tiny hammerhead pups wriggling in the sea.

Onlookers described how repeated attempts to guide the shark into deeper water had failed and that is kept swimming toward shore.

Kathy Hunt, who lives locally, told News 13 that the shark appeared to be "looking for a way out and was thrashing around the closer it got to the shoreline."

Park rangers tried to take control of the unusual situation by coaxing the shark back into deeper waters, but it died at around 3 p.m. yesterday afternoon.

It is odd that you'll read in the news every now and then about marine life making its way towards shore, like a whale or dolphin, & from it beaching itself. I wonder if there's any similarities in this case.

Headline should read, "Idiot pulls hammerhead shark out of the water and it gives birth on the shore to a larger audience of idiots".

No. How about an idiot pulls a Hammerhead shark ashore and a Remora that was attached tries to go back into the ocean?

reply to post by EnigmaAgent


The fisherman probably feared for all the people on the beach because it kept swimming by shore. I was stationed near Panama Beach years ago in a little place called Pensacola (bout an hour drive) and I remember there was an incident where a young boy was attacked by a bull shark who bite his arm off. Well the boys uncle went into the water, grabbed the shark, and dragged it onto land where a ranger shot it so they could retrieve the arm. That boys uncle has balls because bull sharks are the meanest sharks out there.

I guess that's just how they do it in Florida.

Boy's Arm Reattached After Shark Attack

An 8-year-old boy remains in critical condition after surgeons worked through the night to reattach his arm, which was bitten off during a shark attack in Pensacola, Florida yesterday.

Officials say the attack happened around 8:30 p.m. as the boy swam at the Gulf Islands National Seashore with his aunt and uncle.

A park service official said the boy's uncle dove into the water and pulled the boy and the 250-pound, six and a half foot shark to the shore. The uncle then wrestled the shark on the beach where a park ranger shot it three times in the head.

Arm Pulled Out of Shark

reply to post by Helious


Agreed, The shark probably released the babies out of distress and there's a good chance the shark and the babies can die as a result of the stress.

It would have been real nice to see the mother give the guy a little thank you for yanking her tail.

Whoever wrote that article obviously hasn't watched the video!

Multiple attempts at coaxing it back into the water???? Really?

Stupid guy catches a shark, drags it to shore, it had its babies (mostly likely a shock response), poor thing is thrashing trying to head back into the water and he/everyone there that didn't speak up and wouldn't let it.

This is just sad.

Eta: yes those could have very well been remora as someone else stated. Much more likely too

reply to post by KawRider9


The only part of this story we see is the fisherman pulling the shark ashore but what we don't see is the coaxing before hand.

reply to post by Crakeur


It's possible the shark died due to the stress but from the sounds of the story there may have been something wrong with the shark before it was dragged to shore. The good news is the shark pups aren't dependent on their mother once they enter this world and are on their own regardless if she died or not, and they all seemed to have made into the water just fine.

reply to post by Swills


agreed that the pups are on their own at birth but who's to say they were ready to be born? I've kept plenty of fish over the years (yes, even small sharks) and giving birth is extremely stressful on the fish, without the added agony of some moron pulling the fash backwards which, by the way, can drown the shark.

From the video, which is more telling than the article, the guy was having some fun, trying to show the onlookers that he had a shark by the tail. I highly doubt he knew the fish was pregnant or about to give birth and I doubt he cared about the well being of the shark.

reply to post by Helious


Why are the beach goers idiots? I understand the anger towards the fisherman but not the onlookers. Had you been at the beach that day what would you do, not look, go to your car, or gather round like everyone else?

reply to post by Crakeur


I agree the stress for the sharks could have killed the mother, maybe the pups, but we'll never know if they died or not shortly after. I agree the fisherman seemed to have enjoyed the attention he was getting but according to those who were there that day they said they tried to coax the poor thing back into deeper water but it kept coming to shore so was the fisherman trying to restrain the shark so no one got hurt since the beach was so crowded and wait for the rangers? I guess we'll have to see if he ever gets interviewed.

reply to post by Swills


wow
as an avid diver
this makes me sad

@ No point do I see any1 in the vid
trying to get the shark back into the water.
Just the jack ass that keeps pulling it out by its tail

Is that Honey Boo Boo shouting out
"don't let the baby get away"

these animals have suffered enough
due to indiscriminate long line fishing
& the practice of shark finning



lets not forget folks
the Ocean is the sharks home
not ours

and yes I would have laughed my arse off
had it turned & taken a chunk of him...

reply to post by spoonbender


The only person I would expect to push the shark back into the water is the fisherman or the rangers, but definitely not the on lookers.

very much like remora attached to this shark, and it seemed to me it wanted to get back to deeper water, that embarrasment of a fisherman kept pulling it back out, he went in to drag it back out....

this is the kind of act that makes humans ugly...

Onlookers described how repeated attempts to guide the shark into deeper water had failed and that is kept swimming toward shore.

If by repeated attempts to guide the shark into deeper water they meant dragging it by its' tail back onto the beach and continually harassing this poor shark, then yes.

Jackasses. And we have the audacity to call sharks mindless killing machines.

reply to post by IamAbeliever


Come on people, this isn't what they meant. The video only starts when the fisherman is dragging the shark ashore and does not show the repeated attempts to guide the shark away from the shoreline.

According to a local news outlet the shark was swimming in what was known to the locals as the kiddie pool after being caught by a fisherman, so I ask you all, would you want this thing any where near children?

www.wmbb.com...

An unfamiliar sight caused quite a stir Sunday afternoon at St. Andrews State Park. "Wow! Holy cow, that's a shark, and it was right up into the sand area, like almost on the beach."

Kathy Hunt and her family are no strangers to the park. They frequent the area commonly knows as the "kiddie pool" on the east end. She's never seen a shark, not before Sunday.

"I started getting pictures as soon as people started getting out of the water."

Dozens of people started getting out of the water and onto the beach as a group of boys pulled the more than seven foot hammerhead shark on shore. Another beachgoer caught a lot of it video, now on YouTube.

"Fishing is a legal activity. Unfortunately, he did catch a hammerhead shark, and I'm just assuming that he was attempting to pull him back onto the shoreline and retrieve the hook," said Brian Addison, Park Manager.

reply to post by JIMC5499


You're correct, it wasn't pups but remoras.

globalnews.ca...

A number of sources reported the shark gave birth to a number of pups, which then appeared to squirm away from the shark back into the Gulf of Mexico. Global News contacted University of Florida shark expert Dr. George Burgess to verify what is seen in the video.

Burgess said they were not hammerhead pups, but remoras.

Originally posted by Swills
reply to post by IamAbeliever

 

Kathy Hunt and her family are no strangers to the park. They frequent the area commonly knows as the "kiddie pool" on the east end. She's never seen a shark, not before Sunday.


"Fishing is a legal activity. Unfortunately, he did catch a hammerhead shark, and I'm just assuming that he was attempting to pull him back onto the shoreline and retrieve the hook," said Brian Addison, Park Manager.

edit on 13-8-2013 by Swills because: (no reason given)

1st off there is No such thing
as a kiddie pool in the ocean...

its more like the Sharks nursery
Not the Humans

2nd the hooks are made to dissolve
in salt water over time, so you can cut the line

and just because the Yokels
have never seen a shark in the "kiddie pool"
doesn't mean they aren't there...

take a look at the color of water there...
bet the visibility is not more than a foot or 2

the JerkleMyer of a fisherman just wanted to beat his chest
for the rest of the primates