Great White Shark suspected in Redondo Breakwater attack
A long beaked common dolphin missing its midsection was found on the beach Thursday at the Redondo Breakwall. Photo (CivicCouch.com)
A six-foot dolphin with its rib cage exposed and its entrails missing washed up on the beach at the Redondo Breakwall on Thursday. The dead dolphin was spotted by Breakwall surfer Chris Wells about 3 p.m. and photographed about an hour later by surf photographer Brad Jacobson. View the Shark Attack PHOTOS.
“It’s a predation kill, most likely by a great white shark,” Dave Janiger, a curatorial assistant in the mammalogy department of the Los Angeles County Natural History Museum, said Thursday evening, after viewing Jacobson’s photos.
“This long beaked common dolphin is pretty fresh. It died within 24 hours, and close to shore,” Janiger said.
“That area is close to the Redondo Canyon, where large white sharks have been known to hang out. The dolphin is bitten in the ventral area of the body, which is classic for white sharks coming up and attacking from below,” Janiger noted.
The dolphin’s presence put to rest skepticism that greeted ET Surf Shop manager Daniel Del Castillo’s claim to have seen a big fin speeding past the line-up at the Breakwall Sunday morning.
Del Castillo told fellow surfers he was on the beach at the Breakwall about 9:45 a.m. Sunday morning watching friends Steve Howe and Charlie Carver surf, when he saw a two–foot-tall, triangular fin just north of the surfers.
“I lost sight of it, and was thinking maybe it was just a dolphin, when I saw the fin again, speeding south toward the breakwall, about where the outside sets were breaking.”
None of the surfers in the water, who were sitting inside at the time, reported seeing the fin. But professional surfer Sean Burrell, who was in the water, said he saw an adult and a baby sea lion inside the surf line, which he said is unusual.
“A surfer who was standing with me saw my eyes get real big, so he didn’t doubt me when I told him what I saw. But the other guys were asking if I had photos. I do now,” Del Castillo said. ER