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Old 05-23-2007, 06:29 PM   #1
Spear One
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18ft Great White Visits Florida West Coast? Turns Out.....NO!

Turns out this was likely a Basking Shark and not a Great White, but still worth a read!

Chad Campbell who owns Suncoast Dive Center in Seminole called me this morning and asked me to help him identify a shark he spotted 6 miles west of Clearwater Pass. He said he could e-mail me a picture & I said sure, send it over and I will do my best to help you identify it. So the e-mail arrives and Cindy (my wife) opens the picture and calls me in to take a look. The picture is kinda small and all I can see is a dorsal fin sticking out of the water and a dark shadow below it. There really isn't anything in the picture that can help me get a size perspective on how big the shark might be and Chad had not given me any previous information on how big the shark was.

Since all I had to go on was the dorsal fin, my first assessment was that it looked like a Great White dorsal but was more likely a Bull Shark. The fin was kinda short and broad like a Bull but was a little ragged looking around the edges like a Great White. However, I pretty much dismissed the possibility of a Great White because of the time of year and the high water temp right now. I told Cindy it was a Bull and went back to work.

A few minutes later, Cindy called me back in and told me to take another look. Apparently, there was more to the photo than we had originally seen. She had scrolled the picture to the right and exposed the tail end of the shark. As soon as as I saw the base of the tail, I suspected it was a Great White. However, I still had no clue as to how big it was. I immediatly called Chad and asked him how long he thought the shark was, and he said............."oh about 18 feet". I told him him based on the size & the width of the tail base that I'm pretty sure it is a Great White! All I head was silence on the other end!

I said HOLY $HIT! Do you have any idea how big a news this is if it is a White? An 18 foot Great White in 27 feet of water only 6 miles west of Clearwater? Especially this late in the season? I asked him........."did you get in the water and take a look at it"? Chad said...........Hell No! All I did was take a picture!


More to come!
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Last edited by Spear One; 05-25-2007 at 07:07 PM.
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Old 05-23-2007, 06:33 PM   #2
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Re: "BE ADVISED" 18ft Great White Visits Florida West Coast

Where's the picture?
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Old 05-23-2007, 06:42 PM   #3
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Re: "BE ADVISED" 18ft Great White Visits Florida West Coast

Quote:
Originally Posted by bryansnarked
Where's the picture?
Show me the money.
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Old 05-23-2007, 07:00 PM   #4
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Re: "BE ADVISED" 18ft Great White Visits Florida West Coast

Quote:
Originally Posted by bryansnarked
Where's the picture?
Patience, patience. I don't know how to post a picture. I think Chad knows how to do it.
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Old 05-23-2007, 07:01 PM   #5
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Re: "BE ADVISED" 18ft Great White Visits Florida West Coast

ooo gooddy


http://imageshack.us/

click this link and load the pic and WALLLAAAAA all is done
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Old 05-23-2007, 07:17 PM   #6
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Re: "BE ADVISED" 18ft Great White Visits Florida West Coast

If that doesn't work, email it to me Kevin and I can "clean it up" as well as get it SB friendly.

StudioLens@aol.com
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Old 05-23-2007, 07:25 PM   #7
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Re: "BE ADVISED" 18ft Great White Visits Florida West Coast

* Y'all know me. Know how I earn a livin'. I'll catch this bird for you, but it ain't gonna be easy. Bad fish! Not like going down to the pond and chasing bluegills and tommycod. This shark, swallow ya whole. Little shakin', little tenderizin', down you go. And we gotta do it quick, that'll bring back the tourists, that'll put all your businesses on a payin' basis. But it's not gonna be pleasant! I value my neck a lot more than three thousand bucks, chief. I'll find him for three, but I'll catch him, and kill him, for ten. But you've gotta make up your minds. If you want to stay alive, then ante up. If you want to play it cheap, be on welfare the whole winter. I don't want no volunteers, I don't want no mates, there's too many captains on this island. Ten thousand dollars for me by myself. For that you get the head, the tail, the whole damn thing.

Back home we got taxidermy man...he gonna have a heart attack when he see what I brung him - ha ha ha ha ha haaaaaa!.

He can't go down with three barrels...not with three barrels on he can't.
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Old 05-23-2007, 07:57 PM   #8
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Re: "BE ADVISED" 18ft Great White Visits Florida West Coast

no pic's please show us !!! download didn't work for me. Sherriff brady needs to be notified
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Old 05-23-2007, 08:00 PM   #9
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Re: "BE ADVISED" 18ft Great White Visits Florida West Coast

And, you know, the thing about a shark... he's got lifeless eyes. Black eyes. Like a doll's eyes...
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Old 05-23-2007, 08:07 PM   #10
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Re: "BE ADVISED" 18ft Great White Visits Florida West Coast

... we're going to need a bigger boat...
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Old 05-23-2007, 08:09 PM   #11
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Re: "BE ADVISED" 18ft Great White Visits Florida West Coast

Here lies the body of Mary Lee. Died at the age of a hundred and three. For fifteen years she kept her virginity. Not a bad record for this vicinity.

You see that That there. Mary Ellen Moffat. She broke my heart
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Old 05-23-2007, 08:32 PM   #12
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Re: "BE ADVISED" 18ft Great White Visits Florida West Coast

he might have been lookin for that giant squid I saw off clearwater the other day
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Old 05-23-2007, 08:41 PM   #13
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Re: "BE ADVISED" 18ft Great White Visits Florida West Coast

I'm not going to stand here and see that thing cut open and see that little Kintner boy spill out all over the dock.
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Old 05-23-2007, 08:43 PM   #14
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Re: "BE ADVISED" 18ft Great White Visits Florida West Coast

where is this pic? I cant believe its a GWS and not a mako or tiger or something.
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Old 05-23-2007, 08:57 PM   #15
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Re: "BE ADVISED" 18ft Great White Visits Florida West Coast

Quote:
Originally Posted by BreathlessSight
where is this pic? I cant believe its a GWS and not a mako or tiger or something.
Other than the fact that Mako's and Tigers look nothing like a GW

Differnt, size, width, fins, nose, etc.
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