Pam Teehan was taking a run around Pleasure Bay when she saw the fin of the mystery fish.
(David L. Ryan/Globe Staff)
Other people saw it, too, she said, and she heard them exclaiming, “There’s a shark in the water!â€
[Cue the “Jaws†theme.]
“This was a friendly, clumsy fin,†Teehan said. Perhaps it was a mola mola, a giant ocean sunfish, she thought. But “the more I looked at it, I thought it was a shark,†said the Dorchester resident.
She said the fish was smooth and shiny and schools of small silver fish were jumping up from the water around it.
The New England Aquarium is working to identify the fish, but says it is likely a mola mola or a blue shark.
“It’s problematic to get an animal in there,†said aquarium spokesman Tony LaCasse. The bay is sealed off by a gate, which means the mystery fish could have been dragged in by the tide and could be injured.
LaCasse said this summer he’s seen as many reports of mola molas as he had in six or seven years combined.
“They look like a marine hybrid experiment gone wrong,†he said. They can weigh nearly 5,000 pounds, according to National Geographic.
However, LaCasse thinks this fish was swimming too fast to be a mola mola. He suspects it may be a five- or six-foot-long blue shark. It is common for the predators to come north of the Cape at the end of summer. Blue sharks primarily eat fish and squid but can bite a human if they feel threatened, he said.
“I felt honored and fortunate to see it,†said Teehan, who is fascinated by sharks and does not fear the water.
Avi Levy, a man who was kite-surfing in the area, asked Teehan if the fish could be poisonous. She told him it probably wasn’t and watched him enter the water and surf up close and personal with the fin.
Melissa can be reached at melissa.hanson@globe.com or on Twitter @Melissa__Hanson
