Shark feeding frenzy caught on video as dead whale floats past South Carolina coast

An extremely rare species of whale has died off South Carolina, and the carcass is attracting huge sharks intent on feasting before it sinks to the ocean floor, according to the SC Department of Natural Resources.

The feeding frenzy is taking place about 15 miles off the coast, and state biologists reported seeing great white sharks in the 12-foot to 15-foot range feeding on the whale as it passed Myrtle Beach.

NOAA Fisheries identified the carcass as a “critically endangered” North Atlantic right whale and says it had been struggling to free itself from an “entanglement” of fishing gear since October. Called Cottontail by researchers, the 11-year-old male is believed to have died the last week of February, NOAA officials said.

“A carcass as large as a right whale’s attracts animals from all over the area, including top predators such as white shark,” the SC Department of Natural Resources wrote Thursday on Facebook.

“SCDNR’s shark biologist and a local charter captain used this group feeding opportunity to collect data on these iconic animals, which migrate through South Carolina’s waters in the wintertime.”

Two female white sharks were tagged by a state biologist during the visit, using trackers supplied by the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy, the post said.

The discovery of the carcass is considered a rare opportunity for researchers to find a large number of white sharks in one spot.

OCEARCH, a white shark research agency, will send a team to the carcass Saturday, in hopes of catching white sharks and fitting them with satellite trackers. The expedition is part of a larger project to determine if the North Carolina coast is mating destination for white sharks, McClatchy News reported this week.

NOAA Fisheries says “aerial survey teams” last saw the whale alive around Feb. 21, off southern Florida’s Treasure Coast.

Multiple attempts were made to free it from entanglement in recent months, but all failed, officials said. The fishing gear was seen over its head, running through both sides of its mouth and “extending beyond his tail for about three to four body lengths,” NOAA reported in Oct. 2020.

Fewer than 400 North Atlantic right whales are known to exist, NOAA reports.

This story was originally published March 11, 2021 at 4:49 PM with the headline "Shark feeding frenzy caught on video as dead whale floats past South Carolina coast."