{"id":672434,"date":"2026-07-03T22:47:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-03T22:47:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/672434\/"},"modified":"2026-07-03T22:47:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-03T22:47:12","slug":"boaters-stumbled-on-a-great-white-devouring-a-whale-off-rhode-island","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/672434\/","title":{"rendered":"Boaters Stumbled on a Great White Devouring a Whale off Rhode Island"},"content":{"rendered":"

The post Boaters Stumbled on a Great White Devouring a Whale off Rhode Island<\/a> appeared first on A-Z Animals<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A boater found more than he or she bargained for while sailing along the coast of Rhode Island. On the way back from the Northeast Canyons, the Fleet RI observed a dead whale<\/a> floating in the water near Block Island. But that wasn\u2019t all\u2014as the whale bobbed in the waves, a great white<\/a> shark appeared. The video, now viral, shows the power and strength behind the shark\u2019s predatory nature.<\/p>\n

A 15-Foot Apex Predator Finds a Meal<\/p>\n

Whalefalls<\/a> are common feeding grounds for sharks. The decaying flesh of the animal, combined with the scent of blood, attracts sharks. The carcass was found near the Northeast Canyons, a deep-sea ecosystem rich in marine biodiversity. Therefore, it\u2019s not surprising that a great white showed up for a free meal.<\/p>\n

\"Aerial<\/p>\n

A great white shark sighting may be a sign of a healthy ecosystem.<\/p>\n

\u00a9Mark F Lotterhand\/Shutterstock.com<\/p>\n

This location is roughly eight miles off the coast of Rhode Island, far from any potential beach encounters. Spotting a great white in these waters is consistent with their known migration patterns. This sighting may also indicate a healthy local ecosystem. While it\u2019s unclear what caused the whale\u2019s death, according to the Atlantic Shark Institute<\/a> \u2014 which documented the sighting \u2014 it\u2019s not uncommon for sharks to come from miles away.<\/p>\n

As the Atlantic Shark Institute observed the first great white, they noted a second great white<\/a> swimming up to the whale carcass. While the first shark appeared curious about Ian Shilosky\u2019s nearby boat\u2014he was the one who took the video\u2014the second shark was primarily focused on feeding.<\/p>\n

Great White Sightings Near Rhode Island<\/p>\n

In this case, the two great whites posed no threat to beachgoers or anyone on nearby boats. They were there solely to feed and showed little interest in anything else, including the people observing them. Great whites are fairly common around Block Island and are especially active during the summer and fall. Warmer waters draw them north, where they feed on marine species in the deep waters off the coast.<\/p>\n

\"Great<\/p>\n

Keep your distance from great white sharks.<\/p>\n

\u00a9Aquabluedreams\/Shutterstock.com<\/p>\n

They typically avoid shallow water, and while it\u2019s not unusual to see them feeding on a whale carcass at sea, it\u2019s very rare to spot them from the shoreline. Great white shark bites in Rhode Island are exceedingly rare. In the last two centuries, there have only been two unprovoked shark<\/a> attacks off of the state.<\/p>\n

The post Boaters Stumbled on a Great White Devouring a Whale off Rhode Island<\/a> appeared first on A-Z Animals<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The post Boaters Stumbled on a Great White Devouring a Whale off Rhode Island appeared first on A-Z…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":672435,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[225025,225023,12474,225024,33071,90,56,54,55,61309,4407],"class_list":["post-672434","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-atlantic-shark-institute","tag-block-island","tag-great-white-shark","tag-northeast-canyons","tag-rhode-island","tag-science","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-whale-carcass","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/672434","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=672434"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/672434\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/672435"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=672434"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=672434"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=672434"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}