Fla. Shark Swarm Swims Away
Hundreds of sharks that gathered off the west coast of Florida this week have swum away, police said Wednesday.
The Pasco County Sheriff’s Office issued an alert to swimmers and boaters Tuesday after its marine patrol officers spotted a concentration of hundreds of sharks in the Gulf of Mexico about three miles from the county’s beaches.
The officers checked the area again Wednesday morning and found only a few sharks, sheriff’s spokesman Kevin Doll said.
Marine experts said the sharks had probably been feeding off schools of fish and may have gone south to warmer waters.
Doll said most of the sharks seen were black-tips and hammerheads, some as long as 10 feet.
He said the alert was to last through Wednesday as a precaution and the marine patrol would monitor the area around Anclote Key, northwest of Tampa.
Fears of shark attacks have increased along Florida’s Gulf Coast after an 8-year-old boy was attacked near Pensacola in July. The shark tore off the boy’s right arm, but it was reattached by doctors and he was sent home this weekend.
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