Beaufort County (WLTX) -- A marine on Parris Island says this 11-foot, 500 pound tiger shark is just one of many similar fish he's caught off the training depot in the past week.
Staff Sergeant. Hollingsworth says he caught the large fish in the Broad River off of Parris Island, in a body of water that's very popular to pleasure cruisers, water skiers, swimmers--and apparently large sharks as well.
"This is my fourth tiger shark over eight feet long I've caught in the past week," Hollingsworth said in an email.
According to sources at the Florida Museum of Natural History, which keeps records of shark attacks, tiger sharks are second only to great white sharks in the number of recorded attacks on humans.
No attacks on humans have been recorded off the Beaufort County coast this year, according to the International Shark Attack file. There have been fewer than 10 such recorded attacks in Beaufort County since 1837.
Tigers are typically between 11 and 15 feet in length at maturity. These sharks like hanging out in waters where rivers meet the ocean, and that's exactly where this tiger shark was caught. The Broad River opens up to the Atlantic at the Port Royal sound between Beaufort and Hilton Head Island. Tiger Sharks will eat just about anything in the ocean. Turtles, dolphins, smaller sharks and other fish are their favorites though.
7/10/2009 8:19:37 AM
