Check out this article:
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/us/DailyNews/sharks010815.html
Holy Jesus!!! Have they finally gained intelligence? Are they pissed about the Jaws Movies? They can’t sue for libel so they are just trying to eat our young!!! Or maybe they are just as pissed about that election fiasco!!! Jeb Bush stay out of the water!!!
Defend Florida!!!
First, IANAMB (Marine Biologist), but as the article says it’s not unusual for sharks to swim in large groups… Hammerheads are famous for this… so I don’t think it’s a sign that the world is coming to and end. I was on a boat near the Faralone Islands (off of San Francisco) once and saw a group of sharks slowly approach the boat… then move off. We weren’t chumming so there was no need for them to stick around. There must have been 15 or 20 of them… all appeared to be the same size (and therefore age?).
I know the general public thinks of sharks as lone killers (thanks in part to Jaws) but if you have ever dived a reef in the South Pacific (I have many times) you know that’s just a myth. Sharks hang around other sharks all the time… presumably hoping to steal food from one another.
I know that Pelagic sharks USUALLY don’t school in large numbers… but as I mentioned it’s not uncommon to see hundres of Hammerheads in one group. I hope this doesn’t cause a panic in Florida that results in sharks being killed indiscriminately… they do serve a function.
I hear it’s an American Bar Association convention.
While little is known about the causes for this particular event, it seems that the limits on shark fishing and their primary food supplies have resulted in more sharks looking for food in more places. I don’t know what species these sharks might be, but many species hunt close to shore or follow schools of fish or squid.
Also, remember that our knowledge of the behavior of sharks in the wild is limited. Most of what we’ve learned so far comes from observing baited animals or close contact with divers - certainly not their natural condition.
I knew hammerheads schooled from time to time, but I never heard of that behavior in bull sharks before.
I was fishing in Apalachicola Bay once when we seemingly came into a school of hammerheads. The water was murky, so we couldn’t see em, but four of us had our rods snapped in two in quick succession. We were baffled, until we finally managed to keep a rod intact long enough to get the fish on the other end to the side of the boat. It was a 5-foot hammerhead.
I suspect there’s nothing extraordinary going on here. As others have noted, schooling does occur in some sharks, and even amoung those that don’t school, aggregations in response to food concentrations or other conditions aren’t unusual. It might be that this is just getting a lot of attention because of recent shark attacks in Florida.
Why does this quote give me flashbacks to the diner scene in The Birds?
(It’s the end of the world!)
By the way, has anyone else seen the aerial video shots of this shark gathering? It will give Labor Day beach-goers pause.
I saw it, very cool…they said the officials were warning swimmers and boaters in the area. Do sharks normally attack boats? I thought that only happened in the movies.
I’ve heard that sharks can swamp small boats, but I don’t have any cites.
Christ almighty, I’m opposed to unions ALREADY. Now imagine if there were a Sharks Local 456
jarbaby
How would they hold the picket signs?
Nah, they’d probably join up with an existing group . . . Teamsters, maybe. 
Dammit, I’m too late again. My first thought on the thread title was “Great, now the next time somebody uses the shark cage there’s gonna be a grievance”
I’m a tad worried about all this. First we have sharks having their own little dopefest, and the other night on CNBC/National Geographic Explorer, I saw great whites JUMPING OUT OF THE FREAKING WATER to catch seals. Methinks there’s a great shark conspiracy afoot.
(Nitpick)
The great whites don’t jump out of the water to catch seals. Their surfacing comes about from charging up from below at great speed to catch the floating seal and having no time to brake before they hit the surface (if you want to see something scarey watch the shows where killer whales come powering up like submarines right onto the beach from deep channels to catch seal pups in the surf on some islands!!)
The shark gathering in Florida is no big deal. It’s quite natural, and we would have probly noticed it before if we were seriously looking. I think they tell boaters to keep away because undoubtedly there would be some drunken yahoos trying to “pet” the sharks or jump in for a closer look. They won’t bother any people so long as people keep their brains turned on. I think the researchers should look at this as a great way to study a natural phenomena - hell if I wasn’t thousands of miles away I’d volunteer!
The current proper term for “swamp” is “wetland”. As in “I’ve heard that sharks can wetland small boats…”
Thank you.
Best line ever from the X-Files (while Mulder & local sheriff were hunting vampires)…
“We used ta have swamps, but the EPA made us take to callin’ 'em wetlands.”
If you really want to break up a gang of sharks, just send in a gang of jets.
Are you trying to tell me that in a fight, Vinnie Testeverde could take out a Great White?
I’ll put a dollar on it.