The Dorsal Fin

Don’t try this at home kids! In a battle between a fisherman, a tarpon, and a great hammerhead shark, put your money on the great hammerhead. The video was shot under Long Key bridge near Duck Key, Florida. After a 20 minute fight with the tarpon, the fisherman loses his catch to a great hammerhead. Half of the tarpon surfaces not long after the initial attack, and the fishermen decide it would be a good idea to reach over the side of the boat and grab the remaining carcass of the tarpon only to have the hammerhead come up from below and literally take the tarpon out of their hands. The video information lists the hammerhead at about 14′ in length.

As a public service announcement, I’d like to discourage anybody from trying to hand-feed a large predatory wild animal in the manner displayed in this video, unless, of course, you are striving to make the final cut for The Darwin Awards. Fortunately, these guys came home with their hands and fingers still attached.

The owner of the video has also posted this longer version of the fisherman vs. tarpon vs. shark events.

Sport Fishing with Dan Hernandez posted the video seen below on YouTube. This is what happens when you try to reel in a tuna at Isla de Guadalupe when there are white sharks around. They don’t call it the “Island of the Great White Shark” for nothing.

YouTube user sherri7057 has posted a series of short video clips that involve a fisherman accidentally hooking a shark. According to the video information the fisherman was fishing for tarpon at Sanibel Island, Florida. While there isn’t anything particularly dramatic or spectacular about a fisherman accidentally hooking a shark, the final video of the sequence might be indicative of a more positive perception of sharks from the public. Not only does one of the guys make an effort to pull the shark back into deeper water, so that it can swim away, but a group of people can be heard in the background cheering and applauding when the shark is successfully released.

Kudos to the guy who helped the shark back out into the water!