Great White Shark Hoax

Nasty pics and story make for a Great White Shark hoax(Large Shortfin Mako Taken Just Off Yarmouth Harbour, Southwestern Nova Scotia, Canada Comparing the size of the sharks head & mouth to the guy standing beside it, one can quickly appreciate what would happen if one of these phanthoms of the deep grabbed you whilst in the water Carla Allen, Transcontinental Media.)

There is a good story that has been circulated on the Internet about a large Great White Shark that towed a vessel backwards after being tail looped. The story, a hoax, is posted below. In fact the photographs (above and below) are of a large short-fin Mako shark that was captured off of Nova Scotia.

The close up of the sharks head and mouth clearly show lower dentition that is narrow and pointed, which are characteristics of the Mako shark, unlike the broad, somewhat triangularly serrated teeth of a white shark.Ralph S. Collier, of the Shark Research Committee has kindly provided the link to the Urban Legends page outlining this particular hoax entitled Yarmouth, Nova Scotia: Urban Legend based on This Years Shark Scramble Catch.

More images of the real event are to be found at the Florida Museaum of Natural History Ichthyology Department and this provided by a Surfersvillage visitor after noticing the hoax story..... Thank you Anonymous.

So the foregoing are the facts, and the following is the HOAX;

Ocean Shores' Great White Shark

Ocean Shores Wa. USA - While the ocean vessel 'Dawn Raider' was commercial fishing for dogfish, this Great White was hooked in the mouth but only resisted slightly for 15 minutes before it came up alongside the boat to have a look; long enough for one of the crew members to slip a rope around it's tail !!! 'And that's when the s**t hit the fan!!.


The Shark took off towing the 42 foot fishing boat backwards through the water at about 7 Knots. Just like in JAWS, the boat was taking on water over the stern and the crew watched in horror as the shark would actually jump completely out of the water at times. This went on for an hour before the shark finally drowned.Ocean Shores Great White on displayShe weighed in at 1035 LBS. It is suspected she followed a weak El Nino current into local waters in search of food. Although mid 60 deg. water is considered ideal for these sharks, the larger ones can tolerate water in the low 50s.

(second photo by Carla Allen)