(Watch) Great White Shark Cruises SoCal Lineup for Stingrays, Kelly Slater Says 'Wow'
Our view on sharks has come a long way since Jaws ruined their reputation for generations of landlubbers to come.
A few East Coast sharks fueled that bad rap over the summer, but many more are minding their own business even while hanging out with surfers in the lineup.
Over the weekend, another one of those sharks peacefully coexisted with surfers. Her name is Chapstick, and she was hunting stingrays, a primary source of food for great whites.
A couple days ago, ocean photographer and shark advocate Scott Fairchild posted the pic above (and today, the video below), captioning it:
"Great White Shark in the extreme shallows of just a few feet. This Great White, named Chapstick, was hunting stingrays all morning yesterday. She was amongst a big group of surfers, just weaving in and out of them chasing rays."
Fairchild told Surfer the undisclosed surf break is in North County, San Diego.
Understandably, he says not pinpointing the surf break protects the sharks from the real predator—humans.
He said it's not uncommon to see people, "chasing them in boats, striking them, people openly fishing for them, etc."
And her name? Fairchild came up with it himself. He said most shark tags he sees are quite large, but hers was "just about the size of a Chapstick."
Fairchild says he's named about 25 sharks he's been lucky to encounter, but after a few months they move on and he never sees them again.
"Or maybe I just don't recognize them," he reasoned.
Viewers loved the posts. Chapstick even caught Kelly Slater's attention.
"She’s not small. Wow," he commented
Fairchild replied:
"Haha. Small she is not. And she was in 4-5 feet of water for like thirty mins just cruising, hunting, even chasing a bait ball (which I never see them do)."
Now watch the video of Chapstick below:
Here's one fun shark fact we learned from Fairchild's informative and lengthy caption:
Did you know: Sharks have taste buds all around the inside of the mouth and throat, allowing them to distinguish between salty, sour, sweet and bitter flavors.
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