‘Terrifying.’ Photos show a massive shark circling dead whale off New England coast

Graphic images of a shark chewing on a dead humpback whale are giving people the willies on social media, but not for the expected reasons.

It’s the size of the shark that has people talking.

Humpback whales can grow to over 50 feet, according to Oceana.org, leading some to estimate the nearby shark is 18 to 20 feet in length.

The photos were posted Aug. 17 by shark researcher John Chisholm, who offered a more conservative but still stunning estimate of 17-plus feet.

That’s bigger than U-Haul’s most popular line of rental trucks.

Chisholm — who has likely seen a lot of big sharks — appeared to be in awe, referring to the shark as “enormous.”

“One of the hardest things to communicate to people is how massive white sharks can be,” he wrote in a Facebook post.

“Until you see one in person, it’s hard to appreciate the girth which may be more impressive than length. These photos from yesterday, with the whale for scale, do help put it into perspective.”

The shark was spotted at Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, he said. The area is east of Boston, “between Cape Ann and Cape Cod.”

Great white sharks can reach 20 feet, but the average is 15 to 16 feet for females, and 11 to 13 feet for males, according to the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.

That means the shark feasting on the whale is well above average.

It was one of several sharks photographed Aug. 16 by the crew on a whale charter tour operated by Captain John Boats. The company posted photos and videos of two sharks feasting on the dead whale. “This afternoon was a trip for the record books!” the company wrote.

Social media was fascinated and horrified at the posts, including a lot of “We’re going to need a bigger boat” quotes from the movie “Jaws.”

“This shark (would) swallow you whole,” Kim Zacek Jones wrote on Facebook.

“That is terrifying,” Brittany Fogarty posted.

“Gotta be close to a 20 footer,” Gareth Hindle said.

Many commenters also wanted to know what led to the whale’s death, but experts have not offered theories.

This story was originally published August 20, 2021 at 9:59 AM with the headline "‘Terrifying.’ Photos show a massive shark circling dead whale off New England coast."