A Photographer was taking wedding photos Wednesday near
36th Street in Ocean City when he heard yelling coming from a few blocks away.
"You could just see a pretty big fin," he said.
It happened shortly after 5 p.m., when lifeguards are off
duty, but Denny said within 10 minutes guards responded to the area and the
water was cleared. The Ocean City Beach Patrol became aware of the shark at
that time and was able to identify it as a hammerhead, Captain Butch Arbin said
Thursday.
"Yesterday we had something come into the surf — and
that can really be anything when we first see it, like it can be a whale
carcass, a turtle, a log, or in this case, a shark — so we moved people away
from the area and are monitoring it at this time," Arbin said.
The Beach Patrol is still monitoring the area between 22nd
and 52nd streets.
"We don't want people infringing on the marine mammal,
and we don't want it to hurt anyone, either," Arbin said. "It sounds
funny but, to us, this is normal procedure for anything that enters the surf
zone that usually isn't there."
Arbin said the shark's activities were unusual because it
entered and left the surf zone twice.
"We're not sure if it tried to beach itself, but it
stayed in the surf zone 'til dark last night," Arbin said.
If the shark beaches itself, the patrol would notify
personnel with the National Aquarium and the Department of Natural Resources,
who they have already been in contact with.
Denny is also a surf instructor, and he said it's not
unusual for him to see smaller sand sharks along the coast. But seeing what he
called a large hammerhead close to the shore in about 2 feet of water was
surprising he said.
"It's pretty rare," he said.
According the Denny, more than 100 people gathered to watch
the shark Wednesday.
This sighting comes two days after a dead hammerhead washed
ashore in Fenwick Island, and three days after another hammerhead gave birth
while beached in Ocean City. It is unclear if those events are related, because
the shark was buried but not examined.
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