Video provided by Janna Chapman.
This cute little killer was returned to sea after a local good samaritan said they found it flopping around the Clam Beach shoreline today.
Arcata resident Janna Chapman posted the above video to the popular Humboldt County Facebook page McKinleyville Community Watch today, where it’s received lots of internet buzz.
“My brother found this baby shark 🦈 washed up at Clam Beach!” Chapman wrote on Facebook. “Pretty neat. Is it a great white? He assisted it back to the ocean.”
A fisheries biologist with the Humboldt State University Marine Lab, who chose to remain nameless, said that the shark is likely a baby great white.
However, the biologist said that a tooth is needed to be absolutely certain, as it could also be a salmon shark.
The HSU biologist said sharks sometimes wash ashore when they’re sick, or when they’ve been caught by fisherman and thrown back into the water too late.