Great white shark sighting closes Massachusetts beach

DUXBURY, Mass., Aug. 25 (UPI) -- In a scene out of the movie "Jaws," a Massachusetts beach was closed to swimming Monday afternoon when a great white shark was sighted.

About 1,000 people were on the beach in Duxbury at the time, officials said. The shark, a great white 15 feet long, was just outside the swimming area.

The sighting was the second in Massachusetts in two days. A great white believed to be 10 to 12 feet long, appeared off Wellfleet on Sunday morning.

But Duxbury is an unusual place to spot a large shark. While Wellfleet is on the outer end of Cape Cod, home to many seals, the shark's favorite food, Duxbury is on Massachusetts Bay, 35 miles south of Boston.

Officials said the shark was sighted around 2 p.m. Duxbury Fire Chief Kevin Nord said the harbormaster deployed two boats in an effort to encourage the shark to move on.

At 4 p.m., swimmers were told they could go back into the water. But were advised they were doing so at their own risk and encouraged to go into water no more than waist deep.

In Jaws, a great white hangs around a coastal village for days, picking off swimmers. The book was set on New York's Long Island but the movie was shot in Martha's Vineyard.

While Jaws added to the species' reputation as a dangerous man-eater, experts believe in many attacks the shark mistook a swimmer, surfer or diver for a seal.