Featured Image Credit: Sharktivity
Topics: Animals
Shiala Mahmood
A whopping 14ft great white shark has been spotted off the US coast amid a dramatic increase in the number of shark sightings in the area.
The giant shark was spotted off the coast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts. It was spotted in about 20ft of water, close to the lifesaving station located behind the airport.
According to a sighting report on the Sharktivity app, the shark is estimated to be between 12-14ft long.
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The app also revealed that another great white shark was seen in the area on the same day. The smaller shark, estimated to measure between 8-10ft, was spotted by people on a boat.
The report said: “Shark was about 30 yards from the boat and came at least 6ft out of the water. Absolutely incredible.”
Sharktivity, created by the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy, allows people to report shark sightings. It also gives users real time updates with the location of each sighting.
The app website states the goal of the app is to 'raise awareness and help facilitate the peaceful coexistence between humans and white sharks'.
However, these two sharks are just the latest in a string of sightings in the area over the last few days.
Radars have detected unusually high activity which coincides with the sharp spike in shark sightings and attacks that have taken place throughout the summer.
Earlier this month, Cape Cod was closed to swimmers after dozens of great white sharks were spotted over a single weekend.
Sharktivity confirmed that six white sharks were spotted on Saturday, while 17 sightings were reported on Sunday.
One report revealed that a great white shark was spotted just 20 yards away from North Beach Island, an hour after another shark was previously reported at the same beach.
A further seven were reported near a buoy located close to North Beach Island.
The spike was shared on Twitter by users who were left stunned by the number of shark sightings over the weekend.
One person shared a screengrab of the alerts on their phone and said: "My #Sharktivity app is going bonkers. Loads of pings in #Chatham area, which means a tagged shark is registering in nearby buoys. #Cape"
Great white sharks are the largest predatory sharks known to live in our oceans. They can measure up to an impressive 15ft and boast around 300 teeth.
The largest known great white shark to be recorded is a female shark who measured a whopping six metres in length and has a height of 2.5 metres. She weighed around 2.5 tonnes and is believed to be around 50 years old.
The shark, who is named 'Deep Blue', was first identified in 1990s but video footage confirming her existence was only captured in 2013.
Marine biologist Mauricio Hoyos Padilla spotted Deep Blue and she was captured on film by videographer and diving enthusiast Michael Maier.
Speaking about the historic moment, Maier said: "On the second day, I was in the water, and we had to wait. But all of a sudden, there she came. Deep Blue was very calm and just doing circles around us. That’s when we realised how big she was."
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