Experts are trying to identify a shark caught on video eating a dead dolphin off the Jersey Shore.
Anthony Cortes and his father-in-law David Hermann were flounder fishing Tuesday seven miles off the coast of Atlantic City. Suddenly, the two men spotted a shark eating the carcass of a bottlenose dolphin.
The men estimated the shark to be around 12 to 13 feet in length.
"It was the biggest shark I've ever seen out there," said Hermann. "It was amazing. I think it was a Great White."
"I've never seen a shark that big up close in my life," said Cortes, who recorded the video. "It had to have been a Great White. The shark would grab the bottlenose dolphin, shake it up a little bit in the air, go around, take a circle and come back around to it. He actually came up, looked at our boat, just swam to the back of our boat and then swam right back to the carcass and started eating the carcass again. It was pretty hideous."
Officials with the Marine Mammal Stranding Center are analyzing the video to determine the species of shark.
Those same officials are also investigating a recent spike in dolphin deaths at the Jersey Shore this month.
Since July 9, a total of 17 dead dolphins have washed up on beaches along the Shore. According to officials, four of those deaths were caused by viral pneumonia.
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