A shark swam ashore Rehoboth Beach in Delaware last Friday, according to onlooker Colby Beaumont.
As he explained to Delaware Online, he watched in amazement as it emerged from the surf and scooted its way onto the beach.
“I didn’t know what to do,” he told the local news outlet.
He began prodding it with driftwood, but it wouldn’t budge.
“I couldn’t get it back in the ocean, it was so heavy,” he said.
At that point, another beach-goer noticed and joined in the effort and together, the two were able to drag the shark by its tail back into the ocean.
Once back in the water, the shark swam away, according to Beaumont, who stayed to make sure the animal didn’t come back.
Before setting it free, however, Beaumont made sure to get pictures of the animal with his phone that scientists from the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control used to identify it as a smooth dogfish shark.
Sure enough, the smooth dogfish is one of the most abundant sharks off the east cost of the U.S., according to the Florida Museum of Natural History, with a primary range along the western Atlantic Ocean from Massachusetts to Florida and from southern Brazil to northern Argentina.
Furthermore, the smooth dogfish are a common resident of continental shelves, bays and other inshore waters, thus explaining the close encounter by the one found at Rehoboth Beach.
Fortunately for Beaumont, the smooth shark poses no threat to humans due to its small, blunt teeth and relatively small size. Its diet is largely comprised of lobster, large crabs and smaller fish.
As a migratory species, they spend much of their time swimming back and forth along the western Atlantic Ocean range.
To see the pictures Beaumont took, click here.