Free Republic

A newly discovered species of ancient shark has been named after a 1980s arcade game. The shark swam in the rivers of what is now South Dakota, US, about 67 million years ago, living alongside iconic dinosaur species such as T. rex. It's been named Galagadon, after the 1981 Japanese-US game Galaga, because its teeth resemble the spaceships in the game. The specimen is described in the Journal of Paleontology. "It may seem odd today, but about 67 million years ago, what is now South Dakota was covered in forests, swamps and winding rivers," said co-author Terry Gates, from North...

WELLFLEET -- An unidentified man died Saturday after being bitten by a shark some 300 yards south of Newcomb Hollow Beach in Wellfleet, town police confirmed. His name was being withheld until notification of next of kin; the Boston Globe identified him as a 26-year-old from Revere, and attributed that information to state police. The attack happened at about 12:30 p.m. Newcomb Hollow is a town-managed beach on property owned by Cape Cod National Seashore. “Around noontime [Saturday] a male swimmer at Newcomb Hollow Beach was bitten by what is believed to be a shark. The male victim [in his]...

Physical therapist Caitlin Geary, left, checks William Lytton's vital signs at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, Boston, Aug. 28, 2018. (AP) BOSTON (AP) — The man bitten by a shark off Cape Cod this month said Tuesday he escaped by punching the powerful predator in the gills after it clamped down on his leg. In his first interview since the Aug. 15 attack, William Lytton said he'd been swimming in about "8 to 10 feet" of water off Truro, Massachusetts, when he felt an incredible pain shoot through his left leg and quickly realized he was being attacked by a shark. The...

TRURO (CBS) – A surfer was attacked and seriously injured by a shark at a Cape Cod beach Wednesday afternoon. The Truro Harbormaster says the man was bitten by a shark at Long Nook Beach. Sources tell WBZ-TV’s Bill Shields the shark bit the surfer’s hip. The man was taken to Wellfleet and then loaded onto a Medflight helicopter to be flown to Tufts Medical Center. The AP is reporting the man is 61 years old.

There's a reason goliath groupers are called the garbage disposals of the sea — they eat everything in sight, including sharks apparently. A group of fishermen were able to witness a 500-pound grouper's "rare" meal during a fishing trip off the coast of Everglades City, Florida, last week. Captain Jimmy Wheeler with Everglades Fishing Company watched as someone in his group caught a 3-foot shark. As the fisherman started reeling the creature in, a large shadow appeared. Wheeler instantly knew what was going to happen next.

So when model Katarina Zarutskie visited with her boyfriend and his family last month, she was keen to make the most of the beautiful sights. After a family lunch in an area known as Staniel Cay, Katarina spotted people snorkelling and interacting with a pack of nurse sharks nearby. Despite concern from her boyfriend's family, she was keen to get into the waters to get some photographs with them. "From my previous knowledge from surfing and scuba diving, I know nurse sharks are usually very safe," she tells the BBC. "I've seen countless photos of people with them on Instagram."...

A woman was yanked from a boat when a shark she was hand-feeding bit into her finger and hauled her into waters off the northwestern coast of Australia. Melissa Brunning was standing on the stern of a yacht, feeding fish to a group of tawny nurse sharks, when one sank its teeth into her finger and dragged her overboard. Mobile phone video footage of the incident shows her screaming as she fell into the water. “It happened so quickly. All I could really focus on was the fact that my finger is gone. He’d clamped on it and it felt...

A SHARK believed to be the oldest living vertebrate has been discovered in the North Atlantic Ocean. Danish scientists found the ancient creature — which is believed to be 512 years old and is 18ft long. The shark is the world's oldest vertebrate – an animal with a backbone – and may have been born in 1505, when King Henry VIII was just 14 years old. According to the journal Science, Greenland sharks grow at just one cm a year. So when they discovered a female shark measuring a whopping 18 feet, they knew this creature had to be...

For some reason, the animal kingdom must hate Dylan McWilliams. On Thursday, the 20-year-old resident of Grand Junction, Colorado, was bitten by a shark while boogie-boarding off the island of Kauai, Hawaii. This is less than a year after McWilliams was attacked by a 300-pound black bear while camping in Boulder County, Colorado, according to CBS Denver. McWilliams was about 30 yards from shore when he was knocked off his board and suddenly felt a searing pain in his right leg. “At first I panicked,” he told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. “I didn’t know if I lost half my leg or...

Aerial photos have captured odd gatherings of almost 1,400 basking sharks and researchers aren't totally sure what it is the animals are up to. It’s not uncommon to see the sharks individually, but seeing them in large groups is rare. It’s still unclear why the animals are coming together, but researchers suggest they are likely gathering in the waters from Long Island to Nova Scotia to grab a bite, according to recent findings published in the Journal of Fish Biology. The scientists studied aerial photos taken between June 1980 and November 2013 and found 10 large groups of the sharks...

Seals are often called the dogs of the sea, but it appears humpback whales are man’s best friend when it comes to the open waters of the ocean. According to the Portland Press Herald, celebrated marine biologist Nan Hauser found herself in a scary situation in the waters of the Cook Islands in the South Pacific. It happened in October, when the 63-year-old was on a routine dive with other researchers and a documentary filmmaker, observing the behavior of the majestic humpback whale — a massive creature of which Hauser is extremely familiar. Through her vast experience, Hauser knows not...

National Park Service officials were telling people that the water in the area is off limits.A surfer was bitten on the foot by a shark today near the mouth of Drakes Estero, an estuary off the coast of Marin County. As of 3:48 p.m., National Park Service officials were telling people that the water in the area is off limits until further notice. No other information was immediately available.

Shivering, snowbound cities are scrapping their outdoor New Year’s Eve countdowns. Polar-bear plunges are being canceled because of fears of frostbite and hypothermia. Winter-hardened towns are gaping at their new lows: 32 degrees below zero in Watertown, N.Y. Minus 36 in International Falls, Minn. Record-breaking snowfalls have stranded older and disabled residents inside their homes for days. Cars are buried under mountains of snow, and lethally low temperatures are forcing cities across the Northeast and Midwest to open emergency “warming centers” for homeless residents and people whose furnaces are no match for the cold.

Light emitted by a new species of lanternshark, Etmopterus lailae, is camouflage and helps them to hunt, communicate and find partners. But how does it work? Earlier this year a new species of deep water shark, Etmopterus lailae, was discovered in waters surrounding the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands in the Pacific Ocean. Measurements of external features, teeth, vertebrae and intestines, along with specific external markings and patterns confirmed that it was indeed a new species – a member of the lanternshark family. Lanternsharks (Etmopteridae) are one of the most species-rich shark genera, with approximately 38 known species, 11 of which have...

A New York financier has been killed in a shark attack while scuba diving off the coast of Costa Rica, the country's Environment Ministry announced. Rohina Bhandari, 49, a senior director at WL Ross & Co. LL, was identified by friends as the American tourist who was fatally attacked last Thursday. She was dragged from the Pacific Ocean after sustaining severe bites to her legs but could not be saved. Her 26-year-old diving instructor was also badly injured.

A man dressed as a shark has been arrested under Austria's burka ban laws while working as a mascot outside a shop. The employee was standing outside McShark in a shark suit to advertise the new electronics store in Vienna. Police officers demanded he removed his shark head and when he refused, protesting he was 'just doing his job', they arrested him and slapped him with a fine.

Avellar said he checked with his passengers to see if they would be comfortable seeing the dead whale. “They were like, ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah!’” he said. They found the scene about two miles north of Provincetown’s Race Point around 10 a.m. Avellar said when they first arrived, there were two “good-size” great whites chowing on the whale carcass.

Stunning images get up close and personal with a group of sharks Credit: Tanya Houppermans / Caters =============================================================================================================================== A 'one in a million' shot of a shark Credit: Tanya Houpperman / Caters =========================================================================================================================== The shark penetrates a bait ball of thousands of fish Credit: Tanya Houpperman / Caters ==============================================================================================================================

The most decorated Olympian in history took on the creature in Sunday night's special, but, to the disappointment of some viewers, he was not actually swimming alongside a shark in the water. Retired competitive swimmer Michael Phelps, the most decorated Olympian of all time with a total of 28 medals, took on a great white shark in a Discovery Channel special on Sunday night. Did he win? Phelps vs Shark: Great Gold vs Great White, which helped kick off Discovery Channel's Shark Week programming, found Phelps and a group of scientists working to record the speed of, first, a hammerhead...

TEXAS CITY, Texas (KXAN) — There’s no doubt Tim McClellen will be framing the picture of him with the massive, record-breaking hammerhead shark he caught over the weekend. McClellen won 1st place when he caught the 1,033-pound shark in the 55th Annual Texas City Jaycees Tackle Time Fishing Tournament on July 9. His catch smashed the 871-pound record set in 1980 in the Gulf of Mexico.