Great white shark allegedly ‘spotted off Famagusta’

A Great White shark was allegedly spotted off the coast of Famagusta at the weekend, reports Turkish Cypriot media. 

According to information found on social media and eye witness accounts of fishermen, the shark was said to be over five metres long.

Reports say one fisherman took to Facebook to describe how close the shark was to his boat that he ‘could practically see the shark’s eyes’.

My boat is 4.5m long and this shark was much larger than my vessel. From what I have seen on documentaries, this shark resembled a great white but I could be mistaken. I was so frightened that I was unable to take a picture of it.

This is not the first time a shark has been sighted in the north Cyprus although there has never been a definitive sighting of a great white off Cyprus’ waters reports inCyprus.

The great white shark is mainly known for its size, with mature female individuals growing up to 6.1m in length and 1,950 kg in weight. They can accelerate to over 56 km/h for short bursts and is arguably the world’s largest known extant macropredatory fish, and is one of the primary predators of marine mammals.

Of all shark species, the great white shark is responsible for by far the largest number of recorded shark attacks on humans, with 272 documented unprovoked attacks on humans as of 2012. Brutal!