A 20-foot basking shark was spotted swimming near
Rhode Island
‘s Block Island on Monday.
Footage of the large animal first surfaced on Memorial Day, after Jennifer Seebeck spotted a large dorsal fin rising out of the waters in the Great Salt Pond, on an island off the south coast of the state.
Seebeck had been dining at nearby restaurant Dead Eye Dick’s when she managed to capture the shark near the surface of the water.
In the clip, the shark can be seen going through the waters and past a seemingly vacant small boat.
Other diners in the background can be heard passing comment on the animals appearance and laughing.
The Atlantic Shark Institute shared the clip to their social media pages, causing it to go viral.
In it, the organization said: ‘We got a number of calls yesterday as people on Block Island, RI were treated to quite the scene, kicking off the 2025 summer season!
‘Clearly a very large shark and reminiscent of a scene from Jaws on this 50th anniversary of the film.’
They added: ‘Sharks are arriving in Rhode Island daily as water temperatures continue to rise and more and more species of shark find them suitable to their liking.
‘Hopefully this shark will find its way out of Great Salt Pond soon and continue on its way!’
The institutes director Jon Dodd later revealed that the animal was a basking shark that was around 20 feet long.
He told WBZ-TV: ‘They are harmless filter-feeders but that wouldn’t matter much if you were in the water when one came cruising by!’
The New England Aquarium say that basking sharks are the second-largest fish species after the whale shark and eat plankton.
Dodd also told
Fox
that basking sharks prefer cooler waters and are regularly spotted around Rhode Island during the summer months.
He said: ‘This is a shark that we will see fairly consistently. They’re considered vulnerable according to the IUCN (International Union for the Conservation of Nature).
‘In many parts of the world they’re considered endangered’, Dodd added.
He also believes that the shark probably likely ended up in the pond after making a mistake on his travels.
‘This guy just made a mistake. He must’ve been cruising up the west side of Block Island and said, “Hey, let me explore what’s going on in this pond”, and found himself in the wrong place.’
The shark is since have believed to have left the pond around a day after being spotted.
Dodd added that the sighting was a good sign for marine conservationists.
In 2018 a group of
fishermen filmed themselves releasing a huge great white shark that they managed to catch less than a mile away
from a Rhode Island Beach.
First mate Michael Lorello said the predator measured six feet long and was caught not far away from the popular pleasure beach of Misquamicut.
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