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Fisherman Catches Majestic Bonnethead Shark

It was a hot and sunny spring day in March on the gulf beaches of Fort De Soto Park in beautiful Florida. North Beach was filling up fast, but three enthusiastic fishermen took advantage of the day to do some shore fishing. The fishing began slow until something hit one of the fisherman's lines hard. His two friends brought in their lines dropped their rods on the beach and ran over to give their friend a hand. With his rod bent over, the battle with the unknown sea creature began. The battle raged for approximately 10 minutes when a fellow beachgoer took out his phone to record the final few seconds of the fight. When the unknown sea creature was finally brought into shallow waters, it was discovered that the fisherman had a bonnethead shark on the end of his line!The fisherman worked quickly to bring the shark to shore, in order to free it from the hook and safely return it to the warm waters off the coast of Florida. What a thrill of a lifetime to land one of these majestic sharks from shore! The bonnethead shark is found in tropical and subtropical waters on both coasts of North America, from North Carolina to southern Brazil, including the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico, and from Southern California to Ecuador. It lives in estuaries and shallow bays with mud or sand bottoms and in coral reefs. It primarily eats crustaceans but has been known to also eat clams, octopuses and small fish. Fortunately for the beachgoers as well as the fishermen, the bonnethead shark is harmless to humans!