Bay Sharks Surprise, Perplex Pax

July 8, 2004

Release from: Josh Phillips
DC Military

A surprise visitor to the waters off NAS Patuxent River one evening two weeks ago gave several spectators quite a show at Goose Creek. According to Clint Wright, the assistant leading petty officer for the Naval Medical Clinic ambulance division, a 6-ft. shark rolled and thrashed in the waters close to shore, leaving passers-by spellbound for several minutes.

"I saw this shark swimming on top of the waves before the storm [June 24]," Wright said. "It looked like he was going after the crab pots. I've spent many hours over the years fishing there and I've never seen one before. But I know what I saw, and I saw a shark."

Shortly after, reports of shark sightings were coming in from Hog Point and even from inside the West Basin Marina. Word quickly spread, and soon the marina was an evening hot spot for families hoping to catch of glimpse of the rare -- or maybe not so rare -- guest to the Patuxent.

Despite all the hub-bub about the toothy critters in the station's waters, summer bathers and boaters have little to fear in the way of shark attacks.

"There have never been any recorded attacks in the Chesapeake Bay or any of Maryland's waters," said Harley Spier, a fisheries biologist for the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. "Sharks in the Bay are rare and occasional compared to rays and other fish."

Although relatively rare, several species of shark do call the Bay home, such as the sandbar shark and bull shark. One is basically harmless, the other is potentially dangerous, and nobody knows for sure which one was thrashing in the surf off Goose Creek.

The sandbar shark (Carcharhinus plumbeus) is one of the most common and wide-ranging coastal sharks in the world. Sandbar sharks have stocky, heavy-set bodies and rounded snouts. Females have been reported up to 7 or 8 feet in length, while fully grown males run a bit smaller at about 6 ft. The sandbar's body color varies from a blue to brownish gray with a white or pale underside. They are most active at night, at dawn, and at dusk. They are commonly found over muddy or sandy bottoms in shallow coastal waters such as bays, estuaries, harbors, or the mouths of rivers. Juveniles are common to abundant in the lower Chesapeake Bay, which is probably one of the most important nursery grounds on the East Coast for this species.

Although the sandbar shark is common to the lower Bay, Speir believes that what Wright saw was the sandbar's dangerous cousin, the bull shark (Carcharhinus leucas). Sandbar and bull sharks look very much alike.

"I think the sandbar shark is less likely [in the case of Wright's sighting] then a bull shark," Spier said.

The bull shark is heavy-bodied with a short nose. It has broad, serrated triangular upper teeth and very powerful jaws. It has a broad diet and will eat almost anything. According to some studies, it does seem to have a preference for eating baby sandbar sharks.

Unlike just about all other species of sharks, bull sharks can live and thrive in waters with varying degrees of salinity, and even in fresh water. There have even been accounts of the bull shark being caught as far up the Mississippi River as Illinois, 1,750 miles from the Gulf, and 2,400 miles up the Amazon River. It prefers rivers and inlets with shallow water and is not often reported far out at sea.

The maximum reported length of the bull shark is 11.5 feet, and it weighed over 500 pounds. On Aug. 26, 1987, The Baltimore Sun reported that a man had caught a 420-pound, 8 1/2-foot bull shark while fishing

around the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. Similar catches have been reported as far north as Aberdeen, up near the mouth of the Susquehanna River.

The bull shark is a particularly aggressive species, as the International Shark Attack File has recorded 64 unprovoked attacks on humans, with 20 fatalities.

Bony fishes and small sharks make up the vast majority of the bull shark's diet. They also regularly consume stingrays and juvenile sharks, including small individuals of their own species in their inshore nursery habitats.

One theory of the shark's presence in local waters is due to the increase of rays and skates, such as the well-known Chesapeake inhabitant called the cow-nose ray, in the Bay and surrounding rivers this summer. Observations and sightings are complicated by the fact that cow-nose rays often swim with one or both of their "wing tips" out of the water [see photos], so that they look like shark fins. Cow-nose rays are commonly seen in West Basin, especially near the rip-rap seawall along Ferry Landing Road.

Be that as it may, Spier claims that the correlation between the sharks and the rays is coincidental.

"The bulls [sharks] are feeding on fish in general," he said. "They'll eat anything that doesn't eat them first."

Jim Swift, a natural resources specialist here on station echoes some of the statements made by Spier.

"I'd say there might be some that are chasing the rays, but I think they're more likely to prey on fish and crabs," he said. "They are opportunistic and they will eat anything they can get a hold of, but will they actively seek out rays? Probably not."

And unless the Goose Creek thrasher is caught, there is very little chance of positively identifying exactly what type of shark it was.

"I don't think I'd be able to just see this shark and identify it while it's still in the water," Swift said, "and I don't think Spier would be comfortable doing so, either. He likes to take measurements, take a tooth from the shark and take photos. From a distance, it's really tough to gauge what it is."

Despite the sightings and the subsequent fear whenever the word "shark" is mentioned, Spier warns that beachgoers shouldn't be too concerned about getting in the water this summer.

"The bull sharks are known to attack people. So if you happen to see a fin, don't go swimming," he said. "But I don't think there is an immediate threat there. People should just continue what they're doing."

Swift agrees, noting that there is no reason for people to be concerned about shark attacks. The odds are that a person is more likely to be struck by lightning than be attacked by a shark.

"For the guy that's wading in the water with the trotline of chicken necks out there, trying to get some extra blue crabs, I don't think he's in any more danger then someone who's driving to work in the morning," Swift said. "Your chances are very slim of encountering a shark, and even less of them biting you or [you] trying to fend one off."