Went for a paddle last night and saw a shark about 10 yards away from at the East end in Long Beach, NY. A chop wave threw the shark up towards the surface and I got a really good look at the front half of its body. Probably like a basketball/soccer ball width at its neck and about 3.5 to 4 foot long. It was brown/tan color. Thought it was a sand shark, but it had a distinctive blunt snout. Any ideas what species? Maybe a baby bull? But I thought bull's don't travel that far north.
The color and size make it sound like a Brown Shark, aka Sandbar Shark. Baitfish eaters that will come in close to shore, in the surf zone. Small size means they'll "never" bite a person mistaking it for food, but if you look at your hand or foot in the summer... tan on top, white on the bottom... the bi-coloration is very similar to a small fish, with dark top and white or silver belly. So that could mean stitches.... but the chances are very, very slim.
Chances are slim. I went for a swim this morning and I was left unscathed! However, it couldn't have been a brown/sandbar shark. Its snout is way different. The one I saw, its snout was almost flat, sorta of rounded. I would say it reminded me of the shape of a squash tail board. PS. I saw three skate wings on seperate occasions slicing through the surface of the water. Full on ocean wilderness. Stoked.
To describe the snout, I would definitely say the latter picture. However, its body was slender like the first picture. The first picture is a sandbar shark. What’s the second picture of?
Another sandbar shark. There's a lot of variation among individuals in the same species in terms of color. More general characteristics like proportions and angles of physical features, and behavior are generally better clues. Physical clues for sandbar sharks are tall, triangular dorsal fin, and thick body with rounded snout. Behavior clues are shallow water, alone for the most part around here (not a breeding area), and the presence of baitfish, crabs, and skates as forage.
