The Briny Bar - Monster Shark ! ! !

Monster Shark ! ! !

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Category: Saltwater Fishing
Forum Name: The Briny Bar
Forum Description: The place for general chat on saltwater fishing!
URL: https://www.fishing.net.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=46652
Printed Date: 10 Jun 2026 at 10:18am

Topic: Monster Shark ! ! !

Posted By: [email protected]
Subject: Monster Shark ! ! !
Date Posted: 02 Nov 2009 at 1:01pm

29 October 2009

According to email’s currently bouncing around inboxes throughout South Africa, this monster Great White Shark pictured above was discovered washed up dead on the point at Mossel Bay on Friday afternoon.

Zag quickly got to the bottom of the story and found out the real deal: according to Albert Phillipson from Waves Surf Shop in Mossel Bay, there was no shark reported washed up on the Point over the weekend. Although, he mentioned that a film crew were filming the dissection of a shark near the point. We soon discovered that the shark pictured is actually the same shark Zigzag ran online a few months which was washed up near Zinkwazi beach on the KZN-Natal North Coast.

So how did the Shark wind up on the Point in Mossel Bay? According to Geremy Cliff, who heads up research at the Natal Sharks Board, this 4.5-meter specimen which weighed around 900 kilograms was shipped to the Southern Cape for dissection that would run in a National Geographic series called ‘Inside Natures Giants’, being filmed in Mossel Bay.

As Great White Shark’s are protected along the SA coastline, a specimen found dead of this size was quite a novelty. The occasion drew scientists from around the world who were on hand to witness the analysis. When asked if anything unusual was found inside the belly of the giant Geremy laughed; ‘No not this time I am afraid.’ Apparently the stomach had been expelled by the Shark before it was discovered.

One interesting point Geremy mentioned is that although this was an ‘ordinary’ sized Great White one of the livers itself weighed 170 kilograms. Now that is about half the size of the Springbok front row.

http://www.zigzag.co.za/news/enviro/436/%5CMonster-of-Mossels%5C-Great-White-Shark-Hoax - http://www.zigzag.co.za/news/enviro/436/%5C'Monster-of-Mossels%5C'-Great-White-Shark-Hoax

O.M.F.G

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Replies:

Posted By: Moocha
Date Posted: 02 Nov 2009 at 1:49pm

Damn thats an Ugly sucker, (also posted in the Spearo thread some where as well I think but the Pics were alot smaller)

...thats one big Noah

Posted By: mole
Date Posted: 02 Nov 2009 at 1:55pm

it would pong a bit

Posted By: KeenAs
Date Posted: 02 Nov 2009 at 2:08pm

They sure as hell look a lot cooler alive

Posted By: Hurf
Date Posted: 02 Nov 2009 at 4:10pm

Reminds me of this one closer to home from Thames a few years ago.

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THE FLOGGINGS WILL CONTINUE UNTIL MORAL IMPROVES.

Posted By: hookerpuka
Date Posted: 02 Nov 2009 at 4:28pm

got a photo in the shop of a 1650KG White that was caught in a net. still ot as big as brutus though

Posted By: Finatic
Date Posted: 02 Nov 2009 at 4:29pm

Imagine the breath on one of those things! Dead

Pity though. Much better off swimming around picking off weak mammals than hanging up on a gantry.

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What's the cheapest type of meat? Dear balls. They're under a buck.

Posted By: JK
Date Posted: 02 Nov 2009 at 4:30pm

wow what a beast!

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LedgeNZ LBG

Posted By: hohepa2
Date Posted: 02 Nov 2009 at 4:53pm

Doesn't it look awful strung up like that, looks like it was choked/garroted...

Note the microphone, are they going to interview the shark?

Posted By: Mikeyb
Date Posted: 02 Nov 2009 at 10:09pm

Hurf wrote:

Reminds me of this one closer to home from Thames a few years ago.

*note to self: no more going for a swim before heading home from fishing in the firth....*

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~~~Living the dream...Diving for a living and fishing for fun~~~~

Posted By: rockinnz
Date Posted: 02 Nov 2009 at 10:31pm

just ‘ordinary’ sized? Hate to think how really big a big one is then.

Posted By: tmmo
Date Posted: 02 Nov 2009 at 10:47pm

does brutus actually exist?

Posted By: Zambezi
Date Posted: 02 Nov 2009 at 11:14pm

I have heard of this brutus but Is he a GW coz I heard he was bronzie who likes to munch of snapper frames

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A man’s comfort in life can be measured by the quality of the toilet paper he uses to wipe his arse.

Posted By: hookerpuka
Date Posted: 02 Nov 2009 at 11:32pm

She did exist but no longer, was caught in a commercial net a few years back now. some estimated size of 4 tonne :O, she was a mammoth great white and certainly no bronzie. there are what they call the spawn of Brutus still floating round though, which are also supposed to be impressive fish.

Posted By: biggear
Date Posted: 03 Nov 2009 at 7:19am

Bugger that, only thing that gives me the ****s.

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Dont let the grey hair fool you!

Posted By: worksux
Date Posted: 03 Nov 2009 at 7:29am

We had one come along the side of a 42 ft boat when we were puka fishing off red Merc about 10yrs ago Their where 8 of us who saw it and even with an conservative estimate we had it pegged at between 20 and 22ft. Everdently it hung around the area for a few months and others also saw it and even tried catching it. Frigging huge believe me.

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Posted By: Sambosi
Date Posted: 03 Nov 2009 at 7:34am

Google Claudia Great White - 1200kgs they reckon she is...satellite tagged and still swimming

Posted By: tmmo
Date Posted: 03 Nov 2009 at 11:53am

imagine what a megladon would have looked like on the back of a truck!

Posted By: laidbackdood
Date Posted: 03 Nov 2009 at 12:04pm

tmmo wrote:

imagine what a megladon would have looked like on the back of a truck!

get your tape measure out and measure 5 or 6 metres on it and you get a real perception of what a monster great white would look like.Its the length of my hallway.Awesome.

Posted By: Zambezi
Date Posted: 03 Nov 2009 at 12:12pm

laidbackdood2 wrote:

tmmo wrote:

imagine what a megladon would have looked like on the back of a truck!

get your tape measure out and measure 5 or 6 metres on it and you get a real perception of what a monster great white would look like.Its the length of my hallway.Awesome.

I've done that with length estimates on bronzies to try figure out how many people I might need to move a potential record. It puts thing into prespective real fast

I've also done it for a GW that was reported to have been around 8m in length but we only ever saw a photo of the head in the back of a ute

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A man’s comfort in life can be measured by the quality of the toilet paper he uses to wipe his arse.

Posted By: laidbackdood
Date Posted: 03 Nov 2009 at 9:16pm

Zambizi wrote:

laidbackdood2 wrote:

tmmo wrote:

imagine what a megladon would have looked like on the back of a truck!

get your tape measure out and measure 5 or 6 metres on it and you get a real perception of what a monster great white would look like.Its the length of my hallway.Awesome.

yeah mate, 5 or 6 metre whites are quite common in auz i think.Always wanted to do a cage dive to see a great white.On my to do list.

Posted By: Raumatibeach
Date Posted: 04 Nov 2009 at 9:50pm

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/Shark-Mauls-Great-White-Fears-In-Australia-After-Shark-Bitten-Off-Stradbroke-Island-Near-Brisbane/Article/200910415419981?f=rss

Posted By: Zambezi
Date Posted: 05 Nov 2009 at 1:26pm

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/03/AR2009110303028.html?hpid=topnews - http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/03/AR2009110303028.html?hpid=topnews

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A man’s comfort in life can be measured by the quality of the toilet paper he uses to wipe his arse.

Posted By: Wanda_Ra
Date Posted: 05 Nov 2009 at 3:57pm

Hurf wrote:

Reminds me of this one closer to home from Thames a few years ago.

This one is the one that was caught off Waiheke island in a flounder net.Had 8 young inside and 4 were able to swim away,the rest were too weak.the young were around 5ft in length..Remember distinctly as i was teaching my then 7 yr old to snorkle in the area at the time it was in the news..think it was ONLY 5-6 metres..

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If you think you are too small to make a difference,try sleeping with a mosquito in your tent.

Posted By: kingieslayer
Date Posted: 05 Nov 2009 at 4:12pm

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woman love me fish fear me!

Posted By: laidbackdood
Date Posted: 05 Nov 2009 at 4:31pm

GoingHard wrote:

Hurf wrote:

Reminds me of this one closer to home from Thames a few years ago.

wow.I always think it is freaky that they attack people in auzzie,yet the only place they seem to attack over our way is the chathams.Yet,they are common over the manakau.

Posted By: Monty
Date Posted: 05 Nov 2009 at 9:49pm

GoingHard wrote:

Hurf wrote:

Reminds me of this one closer to home from Thames a few years ago.

Just thinking that these things live for hours even when towed backwards, if it just happed to flinch its head upwards you would be the 9th 5 ft thing in its belly

I have never seen this pic before but I am glad I have now, because it shows there are big fellas (fellasses) around our inshores, like when I use to be on the small navy survey boats of the Monowai that were around 7 meters long on the west coast near tirau pt, where hammerheads & GW would cruise alongside us to have a peak not a fear in the world. They were as long if not longer than the boat. They were such a beautiful looking creature but scary at the same time.

Posted By: Monty
Date Posted: 05 Nov 2009 at 9:54pm

GoingHard wrote:

Hurf wrote:

Reminds me of this one closer to home from Thames a few years ago.

Just thinking that these things live for hours even when towed backwards, if it just happed to flinch its head upwards he would be the 9th 5 ft thing in its belly

Posted By: paw
Date Posted: 05 Nov 2009 at 10:06pm

Monty wrote:

GoingHard wrote:

Hurf wrote:

Reminds me of this one closer to home from Thames a few years ago.

Just thinking that these things live for hours even when towed backwards, if it just happed to flinch its head upwards he would be the 9th 5 ft thing in its belly

Jeez Monty I hope you don't mean Tirau point off the King Country coast cause that is where I fish and my wee puddle jumper is only 5.6 metres. Now ya got me worried

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sleeping is a symptom of caffeine deprivation

Posted By: tmmo
Date Posted: 05 Nov 2009 at 10:19pm

laidbackdood2 wrote:

tmmo wrote:

imagine what a megladon would have looked like on the back of a truck!

get your tape measure out and measure 5 or 6 metres on it and you get a real perception of what a monster great white would look like.Its the length of my hallway.Awesome.

No, no Megladon, as in the prehistoric shark that lived before we graced this planet. It was pretty much like a great white instead it was 17m long!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Megalodon_scale1.png - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Megalodon_scale1.png

Posted By: Monty
Date Posted: 06 Nov 2009 at 7:32am

paw wrote:

Monty wrote:

GoingHard wrote:

Hurf wrote:

Reminds me of this one closer to home from Thames a few years ago.

Just thinking that these things live for hours even when towed backwards, if it just happed to flinch its head upwards he would be the 9th 5 ft thing in its belly

Jeez Monty I hope you don't mean Tirau point off the King Country coast cause that is where I fish and my wee puddle jumper is only 5.6 metres. Now ya got me worried

Thats the bugger, just off the first set of rollers before they start breaking, we did from there up past Marakopa, we spent 6 months around that area before moving to Kawhia & Raglan, that was the mid 90's.

I think they are like the sharks hanging around Auckland, they arent here to feed so human attack causing death not that likely

They must be breeding & nursing.

Posted By: snap
Date Posted: 06 Nov 2009 at 8:15am

They also like berley bags tied to anchours in the Rangi Channel - http://www.fishing.net.nz/asp_forums/forum_posts.asp?TID=13790&KW=great+white&title=tussle-with-a-span-classhighlightgreat-span-span-classhighlightwhite-span-of-taka - http://www.fishing.net.nz/asp_forums/forum_posts.asp?TID=13790&KW=great+white&title=tussle-with-a-span-classhighlightgreat-span-span-classhighlightwhite-span-of-taka

Posted By: Wanda_Ra
Date Posted: 06 Nov 2009 at 10:23am

Monty wrote:

paw wrote:

Monty wrote:

GoingHard wrote:

Hurf wrote:

Reminds me of this one closer to home from Thames a few years ago.

Just thinking that these things live for hours even when towed backwards, if it just happed to flinch its head upwards he would be the 9th 5 ft thing in its belly

Jeez Monty I hope you don't mean Tirau point off the King Country coast cause that is where I fish and my wee puddle jumper is only 5.6 metres. Now ya got me worried

I think they are like the sharks hanging around Auckland, they arent here to feed so human attack causing death not that likely

They must be breeding & nursing.

Seeing the sheer size of it, imagine the power and strength it would possess.Then imagine how many years it would have lived,only end it in a simple common flounder net,wrapped up helpless to drown.Just thinking of it last night made me wonder how many commercial and recreational nets of all sizes etc have been left discarded in the sea.Snapper and other fish dont stand a chance in them it it can trap and kill something this strong.Stand on lion rock at piha at the end of a day and watch them all swimming under the surfers..

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If you think you are too small to make a difference,try sleeping with a mosquito in your tent.

Posted By: BFIST
Date Posted: 06 Nov 2009 at 11:29am

This made the news over here in the UK the other day - not sure if you saw it in NZ.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1223001/Great-White-Shark-bitten-nearly-half-BIGGER-monster.html

That was a 3 metre great white that was caught in an anti-shark device in Queensland.

Posted By: long john
Date Posted: 06 Nov 2009 at 7:08pm

Never seen that pic of the Thames fish before, though I've seen others. Unless that dude stands well over 2m tall, there's no way that fish is 6m long, as was widely reported at the time. Funny thing with great whites is that, despite thousands of people reporting 6 and 7m monsters, the largest authenticated was 6.4m and very few have taped out over 6m.
In spearo circles, we laugh about all the 'four metre bronzies' reported on here and elsewhere for the same reasons. All good fun though....

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Proud member of the Glen Innes Spearfishing Club

Posted By: Bazzman58
Date Posted: 06 Nov 2009 at 9:24pm

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We all have one that got away..

Posted By: hookerpuka
Date Posted: 07 Nov 2009 at 1:50pm

long john wrote:

Never seen that pic of the Thames fish before, though I've seen others. Unless that dude stands well over 2m tall, there's no way that fish is 6m long, as was widely reported at the time. Funny thing with great whites is that, despite thousands of people reporting 6 and 7m monsters, the largest authenticated was 6.4m and very few have taped out over 6m.
In spearo circles, we laugh about all the 'four metre bronzies' reported on here and elsewhere for the same reasons. All good fun though....

Perhaps as a spero you would like to jump in the water with a few of the pissed of ones we target over the summer months ? that would make me laugh :) not all are 4 meter but there are a fare few round that get up there.

Posted By: tmmo
Date Posted: 07 Nov 2009 at 11:20pm

Yeah, it is interesting how many stories you hear of 6m great whites, when the largest ever recorded is only 6.4m. One thing is that a great white has a huge depth too it, which makes them look bigger than they actually are. The following is taken from wikipedia, and is a story that I found quite interesting about a particular large great white in South Africa.

Submarine (shark)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: #column-one - navigation , #searchInput - search

Contents
[ javascript:toggleToc%28%29 - hide ]

#Alleged_Sightings - 1 Alleged Sightings
#What_really_happened - 2 What really happened
#Shark_and_helicopter_hoax - 3 Shark and helicopter hoax
#Notes - 4 Notes
#References - 5 References
//

The Submarine is the name given to a particularly large and aggressive /wiki/Great_white_shark - great white shark that may (or may not) have dwelled in /wiki/False_Bay - False Bay ^{[ /wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed - citation needed ]}, near /wiki/Cape_Town - Cape Town , /wiki/South_Africa - South Africa , during the 1970s and the 1980s.

Many people have reported encounters with the shark over the past thirty years or so but the story began as a hoax by journalists and then quite unexpectedly grew to have a life of its own and became an /wiki/Urban_legend - urban legend .^{[ /wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed - citation needed ]} The tales told about the animal provide an example of an urban legend that can be traced to its origins. The affair is very similar to the /wiki/Great_Wall_of_China_hoax - Great Wall of China hoax .

[ /w/index.php?title=Submarine_%28shark%29&action=edit&section=1 - edit ] Alleged Sightings

In the early seventies the newspapers in Cape Town were full of reports about "the Submarine". It was easy to recognize, it was huge and it commonly did interesting things^{http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Submarine_%28shark%29#endnote_inter - [1]} such as biting outboard motors off the sterns of small boats. Everyone who saw the shark considered himself or herself lucky to have escaped alive.

The shark has been reported from many parts of False Bay but is said to spend most of its time around /wiki/Seal_Island - Seal Island . (This is not an unreasonable thing for an obligate marine carnivore to do, as the island teems with /wiki/Cape_fur_seal - Cape fur seals ).

The fish is said to be so large it shows up on /wiki/Sonar - sonar ^{http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Submarine_%28shark%29#endnote_sonar - [2]}. Reports of its length vary but figures of six to eight metres are quoted. http://forum.realsurf.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=192&highlight=&sid=e89157d49a85dfa28a5a016fc5ee4325 - [3]

[ /w/index.php?title=Submarine_%28shark%29&action=edit&section=2 - edit ] What really happened

In the early seventies a group of journalists from the /wiki/Cape_Times - Cape Times and the /wiki/Cape_Argus - Argus gathered for a few ales at the /wiki/Tavern_of_the_Seas - Tavern of the Seas .^{[ /wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed - citation needed ]} A dispute arose as to how gullible the average reader really was. A bet was made to the following effect: the journalists would create an entirely fictitious tale about a huge shark in False Bay. It would have certain distinguishing markings and a certain huge length. The tale would be published, in one of the newspapers, with a fake "eye-witness account". The journalists would then sit back and wait until somebody phoned to claim that they had "seen" the fish.

The results stunned everyone involved. The switchboards were immediately jammed with reports of sightings of the shark, or of the exact details of its markings and habits, or of its exact length.

[ /w/index.php?title=Submarine_%28shark%29&action=edit&section=3 - edit ] Shark and helicopter hoax

This old story may have also provided the idea^{[ /wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed - citation needed ]} for the /wiki/Hoax - hoax " /wiki/Helicopter_Shark - Helicopter Shark " image, a composition of two photographs that appeared to show a huge great white attacking a person on a ladder hanging from a helicopter. http://www.snopes.com/photos/animals/shark.asp - [4] The writeup typically said it was from "near South Africa", although the helicopter shot was clearly taken from /wiki/San_Francisco_Bay - San Francisco Bay in California. The helicopter in the picture is a /wiki/HH-60_Pave_Hawk - HH-60 Pave Hawk , a model that is flown by the California Air National Guard. Closer inspection also reveals two swimmers in the water under the helicopter.

In some variants it was also alleged to be a /wiki/National_Geographic_Society - National Geographic Society photo of the year, so the Society went to some lengths to uncover the source photos, and wrote about the hoax in a 2005 issue of the /wiki/National_Geographic_Magazine - National Geographic Magazine .

[ /w/index.php?title=Submarine_%28shark%29&action=edit&section=4 - edit ] Notes

#ref_inter - ^ http://forums.deeperblue.net/archive/index.php/t-29597.html - DeeperBlue.net
#ref_sonar - ^ http://www.sport-fish-info.com/wwwboard/message/51212.html - SportFishInfo.com

[ /w/index.php?title=Submarine_%28shark%29&action=edit&section=5 - edit ] References

http://www.ultimate-animals.com - Ultimate Animals

Posted By: Rotowarriors
Date Posted: 07 Nov 2009 at 11:47pm

is there a write of brutus too

Posted By: tmmo
Date Posted: 08 Nov 2009 at 12:00am

i havent found one, i spent a bit of time looking for it, if someone does have a write up of Brutus please let me know!

Posted By: Zambezi
Date Posted: 08 Nov 2009 at 1:11pm

tmmo wrote:

Yeah, it is interesting how many stories you hear of 6m great whites, when the largest ever recorded is only 6.4m. One thing is that a great white has a huge depth too it, which makes them look bigger than they actually are. The following is taken from wikipedia, and is a story that I found quite interesting about a particular large great white in South Africa.

Submarine (shark)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: #column-one - - search

Contents
[ javascript:toggleToc%28%29 - - - - - -

The Submarine is the name given to a particularly large and aggressive /wiki/Great_white_shark - - False Bay ^{[ /wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed - - Cape Town , /wiki/South_Africa - - urban legend .^{[ /wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed - - Great Wall of China hoax .}}

[ /w/index.php?title=Submarine_%28shark%29&action=edit&section=1 - Alleged Sightings

In the early seventies the newspapers in Cape Town were full of reports about "the Submarine". It was easy to recognize, it was huge and it commonly did interesting things^{http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Submarine_%28shark%29#endnote_inter - - Seal Island . (This is not an unreasonable thing for an obligate marine carnivore to do, as the island teems with /wiki/Cape_fur_seal - - sonar ^{http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Submarine_%28shark%29#endnote_sonar - - [3]}}

[ /w/index.php?title=Submarine_%28shark%29&action=edit&section=2 - What really happened

In the early seventies a group of journalists from the /wiki/Cape_Times - - Argus gathered for a few ales at the /wiki/Tavern_of_the_Seas - [ /wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed -
The results stunned everyone involved. The switchboards were immediately jammed with reports of sightings of the shark, or of the exact details of its markings and habits, or of its exact length.

http://www.sealine.co.za/view_topic.php?id=20088&forum_id=1&highlight=submarine - http://www.sealine.co.za/view_topic.php?id=20088&forum_id=1&highlight=submarine

Here another interesting read

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A man’s comfort in life can be measured by the quality of the toilet paper he uses to wipe his arse.

Posted By: doncod
Date Posted: 09 Nov 2009 at 6:56am

Zambizi that was and interesting read cheers

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Submarine (shark)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Contents

[ /w/index.php?title=Submarine_%28shark%29&action=edit&section=1 - edit ] Alleged Sightings

[ /w/index.php?title=Submarine_%28shark%29&action=edit&section=2 - edit ] What really happened

[ /w/index.php?title=Submarine_%28shark%29&action=edit&section=3 - edit ] Shark and helicopter hoax

[ /w/index.php?title=Submarine_%28shark%29&action=edit&section=4 - edit ] Notes

[ /w/index.php?title=Submarine_%28shark%29&action=edit&section=5 - edit ] References

Submarine (shark)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Contents

[ /w/index.php?title=Submarine_%28shark%29&action=edit&section=1 - Alleged Sightings

[ /w/index.php?title=Submarine_%28shark%29&action=edit&section=2 - What really happened