This great white is probably no where as large as the one off the east coast of Australia right now. Photo: Shutterstock
While Western Australia has been the center of the shark debate for the last year, people tend to forget that the other side of Australia deals with sharks as well. And for the last few days, they’ve been dealing with an exceptionally large one.
The city council released a pretty mind-boggling estimate: the shark may be as long as 16 feet and weigh an astonishing 1.7 tons. That’s almost 3500 pounds… as much as a large car, seventeen-and-a-half manhole covers (those things are surprisingly heavy), or seven full sized dumpsters. And if you really want to get technical, a dumpster filled with fifteen manhole covers. Either way, that is a very, very large shark.
The Newcastle Council’s Aquatic Services Co-ordinator, Peter Withers, said he’s never seen a shark as large as this in the area, and he’s worked on the council for nearly 40 years. According to the Telegraph, beaches on Australia’s east coast have been closed for a record five days, and it looks likely that they’ll remain that way. The first recorded sighting was at Merewether Beach, near Newcastle. It’s not staying in one place, though; the shark has been spotted at numerous spots along the coastline, spanning an area of around seven miles.
“It is not safe for board riders to be out in the water, even close to shore,” the Newcastle city council said. “Sharks are known to move into the surf zone, hunting prey between where the surf breaks and the shoreline.”
The beaches are continuing to be patrolled, but city council said they’ll need at a period of 24-hours with no sightings before beaches will be reopened.
