Crabbers near Astoria, Oregon recently caught footage of what appears to be a Pacific Northwest reboot of Jaws. As seen in a video shared by Oregon’s NBC affiliate KGW, a huge shark has found its way into the Columbia River to hunt down some seal meals.
The video was captured by a pair of local crab fishermen who were out on a standard crustacean hunt. When they were on the water in a small boat, the fishermen noticed a large pool of blood in the water, coming from an injured seal. While they tried to figure out what had attacked the seal, the fin and tail of a massive shark—which they assumed was a great white—erupted above the surface of the water. Judging by the bleeps in the video, the shark gave the guys in the boat a pretty good scare.
The witnesses judged the shark to be around 12-15 feet long, which would make it an average-sized great white specimen, although local wildlife experts quoted by KGW have other theories. According to a biologist from the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife who took a look at the video, the shark could also be a salmon shark, a close relative of the great white. Both types of shark haunt the area’s coastal regions, but it's rarer to see them travel up into the river.
Whatever type of shark it was, it was large, and appeared hungry. Swimming season is thankfully over, but it’s a good reminder to stay out of the water anyway.