Paddleboarders were greeted by a massive hammerhead shark while on their ocean adventure in St. Petersburg, Florida.
Video footage, captured by kayak company See Through Canoe, showed the large hammerhead shark zig-zagging around the pair of paddleboarders on June 6.
In a social media post, the company said that the ocean predator was so preoccupied by the tarpon that it largely ignored the humans.
“Hammerhead Shark chasing tarpon by people at the beach in St Petersburg, Florida yesterday,” the company wrote. “The shark passed under a couple paddleboarders and some of the tarpon were swimming really close to the shoreline and through people in an effort to avoid the shark.”
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A hammerhead shark passes by a paddleboarder in St. Petersburg, Fla. (See Through Canoe)
See Through Canoe said that the hammerhead was caught near the humans after it caught one of the tarpon and took a few bites
“This is when the paddleboarders came along, as the Hammerhead was circling around the dead tarpon, getting ready to go back for more,” the company wrote. “I don’t think they realized that they were paddling right over the Hammerhead’s meal.”
The company said that the hammerhead was about 50 feet from the shore.
A hammerhead shark circles paddleboarders on June 6 in St. Petersburg, Fla. (See Through Canoe)
Hammerhead sharks are native to Florida and can grow to be about 18 to 19 feet long, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
Hammerhead sharks are typically skittish around people, See Through Canoe said.
The sighting of the hammerhead shark in St. Petersburg came just one day before back-to-back attacks nearby.
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The Walton County Sheriff’s Office said that the successive shark attacks were in “close proximity” to one another on June 7.
“We experienced two separate incidents earlier this afternoon in relative proximity to one another, about four miles apart and within an hour and a half from one another,” South Walton Fire District Fire Chief Ryan Crawford said.
Law enforcement remove a shark attack victim from Walton County, Fla., beaches, June 7. (Walton County Sheriff’s Office)
Walton County Fire Rescue and South Walton Fire District responded to reports on Friday afternoon that a 45-year-old woman was attacked by a shark while enjoying the popular tourist destination.
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Authorities said that the woman was swimming just beyond a sandbar with her husband when she was suddenly attacked.
She received “significant trauma to the midsection and pelvic area and amputation of her left lower arm,” Crawford said.
A bull shark gets up close to inspect divers during an ecotourism shark dive off Jupiter, Fla. (Joseph Prezioso/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
According to the Walton County Sheriff’s Office, two female teenagers were also attacked by a shark.
Crawford said that, similarly to the first attack, the victims were swimming by a sandbar in waist-deep water before they were attacked.
“Victim one received significant injuries to one lower and one upper extremity,” Crawford said. “Both [bites] required the application of tourniquets.”
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The second teen victim received flesh wounds to her foot, and was taken by ambulance in stable condition, Crawford said.
Following the attack last Friday, law enforcement closed surrounding beaches in Walton County.
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