Shark Officials Plan Leave Body Where It Is

Shark Officials Plan Leave Body Where It Is - Beachgoers enjoying the last days of summer got quite a shock this weekend when a massive great white shark washed up on a Massachusetts beach.

The beached predator, weighing about 1,600 pounds, was found on the shore of South Shore Beach in Westport, Mass., Saturday morning, local television station WCVB-TV reported.

Fisherman Gary Severa, 65, was the first to spot the 13-foot predator, which he initially thought was just a large piece of driftwood.

"It made your adrenaline go because he's stone dead, but my god, it has 'Jaws' written all over it," Severa told WCVB-TV. "It was pretty scary standing next to that thing."

Both South Shore Beach and nearby Goosewing Beach were immediately closed to swimmers.

But that didn't stop beachgoers from hitting the sand to get a glimpse of the great white.

"I'm glad summer is over," beachgoer Kristin Alder told the local station. "Don't think I'll go back in the water."

Authorities said they did not know why the shark had died or how it up ended at South Shore Beach since it had not been tagged and did not show any clear signs of trauma.

Greg Skomal of the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries said that officials will look at what the shark had been eating to determine what caused its death.

The discovery came the same day officials closed a popular Cape Cod destination, Nauset Beach, to swimmers after several great white sharks were spotted close to shore.

It also came less than two weeks after 10 miles of Cape Cod beaches were shut down when a great white feeding frenzy was caught on tape, ABC News reported. Dead Shark Carcass 1500 Pounds