Thousands of Blacktip Sharks Swim Off Florida Beach

Categories: Shark

Thousands of Blacktip Sharks Swim Off Florida Beach

Tens of thousands of blacktip sharks are migrating just off of the beach in Palm Beach County, Florida. Credit: FAU Shark Migration

PALM BEACH, Florida – Tens of thousands of blacktip sharks are migrating just off of the beach in Palm Beach County, Florida. Arial footage taken Florida Atlantic University’s Shark Migration study during its annual blacktip shark migration population survey shows the sharks in the Atlantic Ocean just yards from popular Florida beaches.

FAU biological sciences professor Dr. Stephen Kajiura, who shot the video in 4K, told South Florida CBS affiliate WPEC 12 that very few sharks were spotted south of Boynton Beach and in Miami-Dade and Broward Counties, but from “Palm Beach to Singer Island, it was loaded–literally tens of thousands of sharks.”

Blacktip sharks (Carcharhinus limbatus) are the number one species for biting people along the beaches on the U.S. East Coast.

The shark has black tips on its pectoral fins and grow to be around six feet in length. According to the International Shark Attack File, blacktip sharks are responsible for around 16% of shark attacks in Florida.

Blacktip sharks prefer water less than 100 feet deep and can swim into water just inches deep as the below video shows.