20 Foot Shark Washes Ashore at Long Island, New York

'Harmless' 20-Foot Shark Washes Up On NYC Beach

Estimated At 2,000 Pounds, Basking Shark Is Second Only To Whale Shark In Size; Jaw-Dropped Beachgoers Stunned.

BABYLON, N.Y. (CBS) ― It was a sight like many have never seen before.

Talk about a fish out of water.

A 20-foot long shark weighing an estimated ton washed up on the sands of Gilgo Beach on Long Island on Tuesday.

"Jaws"-dropped Beachgoers broke out their cameras to get a rare snapshot.

"I haven't seen a shark in the water around here, but in other places like Hawaii and Puerto Rico," one beachgoer told CBS station WCBS-TVin New York City.

At first, spectators weren't sure what to make of the giant creature.

"I was about to go in the water and I saw this thing laying on the beach. Pretty crazy. I thought it was a great white or something," said surfer Andrew Brooke.

Turns out there's nothing to fear here. This was a basking shark which, though big, is not considered dangerous.

"He's a plankton feeder. You can see inside there's no teeth inside his mouth," said marine biologist Tracy Marcus. "He's a relatively harmless kind of shark, but large."

"It's the second largest fish in the world, second to the whale shark," Marcus said.

Marcus works with the Cornell Cooperative Extension and examined the giant fish.

"I don't see any major scarring, I mean there is a little bit of a boat hit, it looks like, a little bit of rawness near the tail, but nothing that would kill a shark," Marcus said.

"It would have been fun if it was still alive. I could have surfed aside it, maybe caught some waves, and rode its fin, grabbed on. No, but, I thought it was pretty cool that something this big could wash up here," said surfer James McGaley.

Marine experts said while basking sharks are common in the waters off Long Island, it's not common for them to come ashore to die.

Experts will determine the exact cause of death and the shark will be buried in nearby sand dunes.

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[jamesrocksass]

@TheUndeadsoldier96 Its a basking shark, they don't have teeth, they don't attack people. Anyway, even if it was a great white, its still a living thing. It's pretty simple, if you don't want to get attacked by a shark, don't go in the sea. The sea is their territory.

[thereaper4u]

Im sure if was a gay ass dolphin they would help it

[fallout3fan1011]

@thereaper4u Dude, it was dead.

[mrpacmany]

jaws is back

[parker123151]

stupid fuckers should have helped it

[Toontownwizard7]

U don't like basking sharks!that's a bunch of bs.[basking sharks]@girlkittyy

[girlkittyy]

@Toontownwizard7 not cool.. :(

[Toontownwizard7]

@girlkittyy yeah,they always help th dolphins and the sea turtles.But never the coolest sharks.

[Crux801]

myth busters did a video that proves that sharks dont go near human blood so dont worry to much if ur near a shark. except if theres fish blood near u. if thats the case consult ur nearest shark expert

[girlkittyy]

those people suck.. lets go take a pic with a poor helpless shark!

[flyersphan111]

@thereaper4u What are you expecting them to do? Pick them up and toss it in?

[InfernoBull]

when i saw that surfer dude i knew something stupid would come out of his mouth.