Please complete your profile to unlock commenting and other important features.

Please select your date of birth for special perks on your birthday. Your username will be your unique profile link and will be publicly used in comments.
Narcity Pro

This is a Pro feature.

Time to level up your local game with Narcity Pro.

Pro

$5/month

$40/year

  • Everything in the Free plan
  • Ad-free reading and browsing
  • Unlimited access to all content including AI summaries
  • Directly support our local and national reporting and become a Patron
  • Cancel anytime.
For Pro members only Pro
Summary

A Shark Fin Freaked People Out At This Florida Beach & TikTok Isn't Buying It (VIDEO)

Other TikTok users aren't going to the beach anymore. 🦈

A shark fin peaking out of the water. Right: Clearwater beach in Tampa, Florida.

A shark fin peaking out of the water. Right: Clearwater beach in Tampa, Florida.

Florida Associate Editor

Clearwater beach in Tampa, Florida, is a huge tourist destination, so when a TikToker caught footage of a potential shark in the water, you can only imagine how people reacted.

The clip shows a fin eerily close to shore and two adults just standing there, staring at it. Many people watching the video wondered why they never moved and didn't know what to believe.

While some thought it was real and decided against going back to that beach, others thought the whole thing was a scam. One commenter went as far as guessing what kind of shark it was.

"Based on the shape of the dorsal fin and where it is and what it’s doing, it looks like a hammerhead hunting stingrays," he said.

However, if you look closely in the first seconds of the clip, it looks almost as though a board was flipping over.

"That’s clearly an upside-down paddle/boogie board," one commenter pointed out.

One person asked why it looked like that, to which a viewer responded that's how some hammerheads are built.

"The underside of a hammerhead's head (catching lunch). It’s hard to make out – but I saved it and went frame by frame. Dorsal and tail fin match too," they responded.

@isabel_reyna17

#clearwaterbeach #clearwaterflorida #shark #sharks #sharkattack #beachday #caughtashark

The clip was posted at the end of July, though it's recently gained virality on the platform, even garnering over 1.2 million likes.

Clearwater beach is an area where shark attacks are pretty rare. It is located on the West Coast of Florida by Tampa, while sharks are normally spotted on the East Coast of Florida by Orlando.

New Smyrna Beach tends to be more commonplace to see these creatures, as it is coined "The Shark Bite Capital of the World".

Pinellas County, an area in the coastal city, only had 13 total reported shark attacks since 1882, according to the Florida Museum of Natural History.

No one has yet confirmed if the fin was a real shark.

Explore this list   👀

    • Associate Editor

      Jenna Kelley (she/her) was the Associate Editor for Florida at Narcity Media, where she oversaw all of the editorial content across the Sunshine State. She started her career in broadcast media as a television news reporter for three years. In 2020, Jenna won a Georgia Association of Broadcasters (GABBY) award for Best Online Produced Story. She's covered live concerts, reported at the Masters Tournament, and interviewed state senators during election season. Prior to working at Narcity Media, she made her way home to Florida and launched a copywriting business. Jenna received her B.A. in English with a minor in Communications at Florida State University. She has over five years of experience from print and digital media to radio and television.

    This enchanting small town set on a BC island was named among North America's 'most peaceful'

    Sandy beaches, ancient forests and a cozy town — anyone?. 🌲

    This Ontario gem with waterfront towns and beaches is one of Canada's 'best' spots to live

    It has "large" homes "priced much lower" than major Canadian cities.

    New data reveals the 'most peaceful' places to live and Canadian towns demolished US ones

    Five Canadian towns were named the most serene on the continent. 🍁