(Sunset Beach) Shark selfies trending as local great whites become celebrities

[petronius]

--- Snip ---

As word spreads about the resident sharks – about 10 have been hanging around just where the water breaks for the past few months – curious beachgoers like Trucksess are heading to the area to get a first-hand look.

The San Clemente paddler, along with friend Courtney Hemerick of Aliso Viejo, traveled to Sunset Beach Friday morning with a mission: to see the great whites up close and get a few selfies with their new sharp-toothed friends.

--- Snip ---

Experts say the sharks are here to feed on the large number of sting rays living near the shoreline. They are young sharks, eat only smaller creatures and are not out to hurt humans, experts say.

--- Snip ---

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/sharks-668972-water-shark.html

Very cool! I've always wanted to see a great white in the wild; if I was closer I'd go check it out...

[longship]

1. The original great white selfie.

[petronius]

2. Heh, gonna be tough to top that one...

[Cleita]

3. Thanks. I'll pass. Even small ones can bite. eom

[FreakinDJ]

4. If you lived in Cali and seen the 1/2 seals wash up on the beach

You would think twice about that selfie

[petronius]

5. I do live here - we have an elephant seal rookery nearby, and the beaches

can be pretty depressing in the months right after pupping season. (Even nastier: I walked past a long-dead whale last week, and there were a lot of crescent-shaped divots all along what I'd guess was the waterline of the floating carcass. Couldn't tell if it was sharks, orcas, damage from washing through the surf, or something else though.)

I grew up surfing near Sunset Beach, and the sting rays were definitely there--we called them Tobies, as in toe-biters--so I suspect the predecessors to these great whites laid eyes on me more than once...

[SunSeeker]

6. Lot of sting rays next door and Seal Beach.

I imagine those Great Whites are enjoying their movable feast.

The water has been unseasonably warm.