Video Showing Hammerhead Shark of La Jolla Coast

Dennis The B

Dennis The B

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A video has been shown on most all the television news outlets, both locally and on cable/satellite. The talking heads have made much ado about the hammerhead shark swimming around the kayakers.

Did anyone ever stop to think that the kayakers were playing in the shark's backyard? :confused: :confused: :confused:

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QL8acZkriE8"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QL8acZkriE8[/ame]
 
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Dennis, that ocean belongs to people, too. It was the shark who was aggressive, not the kayakers.

Hammerheads, esp. the Great Hammerhead, (S. zygaena, if memory serves) is a known dangerous shark, one that attacks people.

This is an interesting case, and I follow shark attacks and have a number of shark books. This week also, a presumed White shark bit a big chunk out of a surfboard, barely missing injuring the woman on the board.

White sharks are so much the darlings of the media since, "Jaws " that I'm always intrigued to see other species featured.
 
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When we used to load weapons in west loch at pearl harbor, the cooks would throw some trash overboard and the hammerheads would darn near swim up on the boat to get at it.
 
A kayak, even an ocean going kayak is no match for a full grown Hammerhead shark. It is just plain dumb to be playing around in a kayak when there is such a beast in the area. It is not a matter of who belongs, it is a matter of that thing can, and very well may, eat someone kayak and all.
 
Must be the warm water. The La Jolla Trench comes to about a quarter mile off the beach & Great Whites aren't all that uncommon.

Ya know those inflatable tubes the bass guys sit in & paddle around with flippers on their feet? We call those "shark donuts." :D

When you enter the water you ain't the top of the food chain no mo'. ;)
 
Growing up, we would surf and snorkel in La Jolla. Saw my first big shark (when I was in the water) there==a 5 footer. Used to sit up on the cliffs and watch the Garibaldis swim up to the surface from out of the kelp. Also would watch large, dark objects move from one patch of bull kelp to the next.

As a Marine Biologist (my BS is in Marine Biology), I had an interest in the ocean and La Jolla all my life. While in Junior High School I won a scholarship for a summer internship at Scripps. Parents couldn't afford my room and board so..............

Fishing out of San Diego on long range albacore trips, I one counted 16 hammerheads up to 12-16 feet long around the boat late one night.

Saw a 35 foot basking shark brought ashore at San Pedro and a 12 foot giant squid at Redondo.
 
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There's a lot of Hammerheads around So.Fla.

They know the different sounds a boat makes and will show up to see if they can steel your bait or even your catch.

I've caught more than I can remember and never once was I trying to catch one.
 
Texas Star said:
Dennis, that ocean belongs to people, too...
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My point was that the ocean is the shark's evolutionary domain. Man is a land animal by evolution. When we go into the ocean, we're no longer the alpha predator.

Sharks "attacking" anything are acting within their evolutionary development. Man and his progenitors have been out of the water for hundreds of millions of years, therefore "aliens" to sharks, and other non-air-breathing fauna.

We know precious little about sharks, since were just now learning how they socialize, breed, etc.
 
Dennis The B said:
My point was that the ocean is the shark's evolutionary domain. Man is a land animal by evolution. When we go into the ocean, we're no longer the alpha predator.

Sharks "attacking" anything are acting within their evolutionary development. Man and his progenitors have been out of the water for hundreds of millions of years, therefore "aliens" to sharks, and other non-air-breathing fauna.

We know precious little about sharks, since were just now learning how they socialize, breed, etc.
Click to expand...


There is a theory that man went through a stage much like a whale or seal before he re-emerged on land. This is based on the growth pattern of hair on humans (we have a lot more that it seems=just microscopic). It also supposedly explains man's tactile acuity (using hands to feel among rocks to find food). I don't know anyone who gives it much credibility. When I took Population Biology in Grad School, I think we spent a total of 5 minutes on the Theory.
 
Wait till you get one of those puppies on the line. Off the coast fishing for grouper and buddy got a bite, started reeling and the thing about pulled him off the boat. Everybody got a turn reeling.

Got it up to the boat and Mr Hammerhead was about 10 feet+ long. We were in a 26 footer and all of a sudden that boat looked real small..!
 
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