There’s something about the deep dark ocean that has played tricks on our minds for as long as humans have sailed the high seas. Not being able to see what’s lurking beneath causes our brains to run rampant with conspiracy theories and assume the worst, that there’s something massive down there waiting to strike.
In this case, there was something bigger down there and it did attack, at least that’s the prevailing theory from the field scientists who tagged and released this estimated 1,000-pound great white shark in the Northeast this week.
The field scientists and researchers from OCEARCH were tagging North Atlantic great white sharks from New Jersey to Connecticut, and one of the sharks they pulled up was estimated at around 1,000-pounds and had a fresh gash/wound on its head which they believe was caused by an attack from an even bigger shark.
I repeat, the 1,000-pound shark got beaten up by an even bigger shark in that area.
The shark was caught, tagged, photographed, and released out in the Atlantic on roughly the same parallel as Philadelphia and at this moment I find myself thanking my lucky stars and stripes that it’s no longer Summer and I don’t have to second guess whether or not I should go swimming at the beach.
The caption reads:
It can be a tough world out there when you’re a white shark. Check out these wounds on white shark Vimy that appear to be bite marks from an encounter with another shark. One wound looks to be old and scarred over but the other appears to be fresh. Vimy is the newest shark up and pinging on the Tracker. via @robertsnowphoto
The shark that was tagged, photographed and released with the bite mark on its head is named Vimy. This shark measured 12-feet-9-inches which is smaller than the typical 15-20-foot average for adults which means this one’s definitely still growing. But that in no way assuages my fear about how fucking big the shark that attacked this one must be.
OCEARCH tagged and released a handful of other great whites on this trip as well. Look at these behemoths:
You can follow @OCEARCH on Instagram for updates on these shark-tagging excursions. They estimate the shark that attacked Vimy is at least two feet longer than Vimy, based on the size and shape of the bite marks, but there’s really no telling of how big it is.
For more on this, you can visit newsweek by clicking here.