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'It's Jaws! It's Jaws!' Great White Feasts on Seal Off Alcatraz
Marine biologists say it's a sign the Bay Area marine ecology is returning to health.
βDun dun, dun dun, dun dun,β one excitable boy hummed the theme song from βJawsβ as he and a group of tourists waiting for the ferry in Alcatraz witnessed a grisly scene in front of them.
βItβs Jaws! Itβs Jaws!β He screamed as blood emanate in the waters in front of him where a great white shark was feasting on a seal.
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This was the first recorded great white predation in the water off San Francisco Bay, according to David McGuire, the director of the shark conservation group, Sharks Stewart.
βIt definitely looks like a white shark, about 8-10 feet from the phone video sent to us,β McGuire told the Associated Press.
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Great whites have been seen in the bay before and there has only been one documented great white fatal attack on human. That was in 1959 when 18-year-old Albert Kogler Jr. was killed in an attack off Baker Beach, about one mile west of the Golden Gate Bridge.
McGuire, who is also the Research Associate at the California Academy of Sciences, said the sighting is a that the Bay Area marine ecosystem is getting healthier.
And it certainly was an exciting day for the group of tourists, particularly for one blood-thirsty boy, identified only as Ethan in the video.
βThat was the best thing Iβve seen in my life -- ever,β he said.
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