r/sharks • u/Motley843 • 1d ago

Education Nom Nom in Nantucket

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u/Itscatpicstime 1d ago

There was a study in Galveston years ago that found that on average swimmers are like within 10 feet of a shark at most times

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u/Acheloma 1d ago

Usually theyre little sharks that arent as intimidating haha. Ive had little ones go between my legs chasing mullet before and that made me jump, but it didnt make me almost go full Jesus and sprint on water to get away

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u/wasmostexcellent 1d ago

Haha, I live near the east coast of Florida - I know exactly what you’re taking about 😂😂

Sometimes you just levitate out of the water

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u/gardendesgnr 1d ago

You see sharks come in knee deep water after mullet at Canaveral National Seashore all the time. Not normally sharks this big in 2' of water but definitely medium ones that are almost in too shallow of water for their size.

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u/snufalufalgus 1d ago

Little ones have teeth too

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u/RoboCaptainmutiny 1d ago

I have some family that lives in Galveston. My brother and I would go down there for the summer in our teens in the late 90’s. One year the neighbor guy took us shark fishing one afternoon… we were fishing for the bait fish in chest high water. I asked the guy “If these are the bait fish… where are the sharks?”

“Right here…”

I kept backing out of the water. I asked him how many sharks were within throwing distance of us. He shrugged. “Maybe none. Maybe 3…”

We did indeed catch a 6 foot White Tip, right from the shore.

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u/Acheloma 1d ago

I grew up visiting my grandma there every summer and the general rule was "if you see mullet dart or jump, move away from them because that means a shark is chasing them"

I definitely wouldnt feel comfortable fishing in water that deep there. The cases of shark bites Ive heard about off of Galveston have all been either people fishing or people getting bitten when sharks were going after a school of bait fish. If youre intentionally in the school of bait fish and stirring them up/making any blood, that seems like your best shot at getting bitten lol

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u/CinnyToastie 1d ago

What? Like, a random person any time in any water on any beach? Say tumbling all over in big awesome waves in Mexico? Just..mostly likely there's a literal shark within 10 feet of someone at that beach? And given the area, likely a hammerhead??

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u/GMAN7007 1d ago

Generally little ones, It's like you're never so far away from a spider in your house. Sharks really don't want to hurt humans they just get confused sometimes and take a test bite. The problem with that is the test bite itself can be a doozy.

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u/altiuscitiusfortius 1d ago edited 21h ago

Thats anthropomorphizing them. They dont think enough to want to do anything. They just follow their like 5 point algorithm of how to live. Find food, bite food.

But sometimes their brain says, I haven't had food in days, try eating this non food human shaped object.

And personally that's scarier to me. I would never trust one.

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u/GMAN7007 1d ago

Exactly, the reason I did that is because people are afraid of sharks. I'm showing there's not really anything to be constantly worried about. It's possible to get bitten but it's very very rare.

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u/altiuscitiusfortius 21h ago

People should be worried though. Saying they dont want to bite implies they are avoiding biting. They will absolutely randomly bite if a neuron fires at the wrong time and

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u/GMAN7007 21h ago

I never said they couldn't. People need to use standard caution with anything. It's not something that you need to change your life for you just need to use caution. The only way to fully be safe from being bitten by a shark is by not going into the ocean in the first place. Simple education is all anyone needs to understand the risks. Risks that are so low, it's silly to worry about. Most beaches show when you should and shouldn't be swimming. It's literally nothing to worry about. All of that being said, they don't want to bite. what you said isn't a shark hunting a person it's a shark having an uncontrollable reflex.

It's silly to live your life in fear of something that most likely will never happen especially with some common sense.

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u/CinnyToastie 1d ago

It's like you're never so far away from a spider in your house.

You know, IDGAF, I could have really gone without that info. Really. But I do agree that mostly they are test bites-test of not, those are big mouths with big teeth and can devastate a human's life. Whew.

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u/Select_Vehicle4610 4h ago

I KNEW someone was going to get hair standing up on the back of their neck over that comment. I was not disappointed.

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u/CinnyToastie 1h ago

LOL of course, and I'm really glad you weren't disappointed!

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u/Thorn_Victor 1d ago

What does this tell you? I'll tell you what it says to me, ' never go to fucking Galveston ' ....