B
Big_Spark
I went for a swim in the water off Maldon this evening and had an encounter with a shark, but I have no way to identify it properly.
I was only about 50 meters off shore, as I have not been swimming in years I was being reasonable sensible, and the water depth was probably around 20 feet, but as it is pretty murky it may be deeper. This area is also the estuary of a river so full of sediment.
I had been floundering about for some 15 to 20 minutes when I felt that I was not alone, please don't ask how I knew this, it was some primeval feeling of being watched, and despite being wet I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. To be honest I felt bloody silly, as I know there is nothing I need be afraid of in the water except perhaps some idiot on a water-ski or speedboat.
Anyway, I suddenly noticed a large "thing" on my right side and it swam very slowly past me, this came as a shock, but I soon realised it was a shark, I had seen enough when in Canada to recognise the distinctive shape of the shark.
As it came back again I watched it intently, but not with any fear, more apprehension as the only sharks I had ever been this close too were either in a tank or dead. The animal in question was about 3m in length, but may have been slightly larger or smaller due to diffraction. I would estimate that it was about 0.5m wide in the body. Colouration was Bluish on top and a grey or dirty white on the underside. As it swam past me it's dorsal fin broke the surface and I was aware that there appeared to be a very much smaller dorsal behind this just in front of the tail, which had also broke the surface.
At no time did the shark act aggressively, infact I would say it appeared curious about this almost 2m thing that was floundering about in the water near to it. I don't feel the shark was eyeing me up for lunch, but as this is the first time I have encountered one whilst swimming I was both apprehensive and curious, though I resisted my urge to reach out and touch the animal as it went past less than 1m from me before disappearing into the murky water.
I have done a search on the net to identify the animal, but have not had much success as the description I can find of UK sharks seem to elude to several possible species, but as the descriptions do not give accurate anatomical information I cannot narrow it down, does anyone on here know enough about sharks to narrow the species down for me?
I was only about 50 meters off shore, as I have not been swimming in years I was being reasonable sensible, and the water depth was probably around 20 feet, but as it is pretty murky it may be deeper. This area is also the estuary of a river so full of sediment.
I had been floundering about for some 15 to 20 minutes when I felt that I was not alone, please don't ask how I knew this, it was some primeval feeling of being watched, and despite being wet I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. To be honest I felt bloody silly, as I know there is nothing I need be afraid of in the water except perhaps some idiot on a water-ski or speedboat.
Anyway, I suddenly noticed a large "thing" on my right side and it swam very slowly past me, this came as a shock, but I soon realised it was a shark, I had seen enough when in Canada to recognise the distinctive shape of the shark.
As it came back again I watched it intently, but not with any fear, more apprehension as the only sharks I had ever been this close too were either in a tank or dead. The animal in question was about 3m in length, but may have been slightly larger or smaller due to diffraction. I would estimate that it was about 0.5m wide in the body. Colouration was Bluish on top and a grey or dirty white on the underside. As it swam past me it's dorsal fin broke the surface and I was aware that there appeared to be a very much smaller dorsal behind this just in front of the tail, which had also broke the surface.
At no time did the shark act aggressively, infact I would say it appeared curious about this almost 2m thing that was floundering about in the water near to it. I don't feel the shark was eyeing me up for lunch, but as this is the first time I have encountered one whilst swimming I was both apprehensive and curious, though I resisted my urge to reach out and touch the animal as it went past less than 1m from me before disappearing into the murky water.
I have done a search on the net to identify the animal, but have not had much success as the description I can find of UK sharks seem to elude to several possible species, but as the descriptions do not give accurate anatomical information I cannot narrow it down, does anyone on here know enough about sharks to narrow the species down for me?
