Is this a great white shark?

This is not a shark. This is a gray (grey) whale feeding in the surf zone at Big Lagoon in Humboldt County, California. I've seen a posted video of the same kind of event claiming that it is a great white shark. The whales often feed here in the spring and summer -- in a deep area between a sand bar and shore. The other Humboldt lagoons have this same type of outer shore -- and whales too. There's no reason that there wouldn't be a white shark here though, so keep looking for them...

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Gray
• Grey
• whale
• great
• white
• shark
• pointer
• Humboldt
• Lagoon
• marine
• biology
• surf
• surfing

[purplecleo]

What time of year do the whales come to this area? I am from So Cal and used to go whale watching several times a year. I miss it and cannot find any place to go to see them in Humboldt.

[HumboldtMike]

The gray whales migrate past here headed south in the fall/early winter, and heading back north in early spring to summer. A few will also hang out all summer here rather than going all the way to Alaska. I usually see them close to shore at the Lagoons in summer. In some years we get a lot of humpbacks during summer. Patricks Point State Park is a great place to watch for whales. Any time of year is worth looking, and during summer you can usually see some kind of whales if give it time.

[justmerich]

Yeah i know the area around there 2 and its better to be safe than sorry.but still is good to know i wasnt sure at first till i seen its dorsal and i beleive the fisherman dood is right if you dont beleive it ask one of the local coast gaurd pilots.there are 2 triangles sfc and the red triangle humboldt?look at the dates on whale migration then follow up on shark atacks?

[HumboldtMike]

The " conventional wisdom" around here is that there is a late summer and fall arrival of white sharks timed with congregations of salmon and sea lions--the white's main prey. I don't claim to know the truth though. The grey whales migrate north through here in the spring with calves. And that's probably when the whale meat would be most plentiful/easy, but there doesn't seem to be a shark surge. There are always whales and sharks though, and I've seen beached whales with big bites on them.

[HumboldtMike]

No prob -- at least you knew it wasn't a shark...

[WolfJuiceProductions]

Didn't read the description. My bad.

[WolfJuiceProductions]

Easily a dolphin. Look how curved the fin is. Most sharks fins including, Great White's, are upright. The only sharks that have curved fins belong to the hammerhead family.

[justmerich]

yeah your right it seems the timming is during the salmon runs i am not to sure entirely about the whale part but ive herd stories from some one working for the coast gaurd.Ive seen a pretty big shadow my self but unshure south of camel rock a few years ago by the house with the waterfall onto the beach.but something was dead out there had a few helis hoverin around it and a lot of birds a lot but im just a kook still and problubly shood of got out with every one else.

[Blacklung27]

I've fished the entire baja, california coast all the way to way up to washington and the entire coast of california has the largest weighted whites in the world,maybe not the longest but by far the heaviest. The unofficial world record was caught 3 miles from the san francisco bay but was disqualified because the fisherman was fishing next to a whale carcass which means that even though it was caught with fish meat it wouldn't count because the area was saturated with whale

[HumboldtMike]

Where did you get that info? There are big shark here, but you must be thinking of some other place.