California Beach Closed After Great White Shark Spotted Swimming Along Shore

Beach officials are closing California's Stinson Beach located in Marin County after a great white shark was spotted swimming along the shore.

According to officials, it will remain closed to swimmers for the next five days.

The announcement came the same day a juvenile fin whale died after becoming stranded on the beach, prompting some to speculate that the shark, which measured between 10 and 15 feet, was drawn in by the carcass.

KQED reported Alexandre Picavet, a spokesperson for Golden Gate National Recreation, as saying that while it is "very rare for such a large fin whale to wash up on Stinson Beach," it is not "unheard of."

Furthermore, Picavet explained that it's "not completely uncommon to have great whites in the area" though "they tend not to come in as close as this one was. We believe it might have been drawn in by the whale being in the area."

The fin whale discovered early Monday morning showed signs of trauma to the sternum area and internal hemorrhaging around the heart, Marin News reported. However, no bones appeared to be broken and the cause of death could not be determined.

First spotted by two joggers at roughly 7:15 a.m., the roughly 40-foot whale was officially declared dead three hours later, according to KTVU. The shark, on the other hand, was spotted by a lifeguard at about 3:00 p.m., Marin News reported.

The whale marked the fourth fin whale the Marine Mammal Center has responded to since 2010, according to KQED, and the first whale of any species it has responded to at Stinson Beach since 2006.

Beachgoers in Washington stumbled upon an equally surprising scene in June when a 68-foot fin whale was found lying already dead in the sand on Ocean Shores beach. Partially decomposed and missing much of its skin, researchers determined it died at sea before washing ashore.

Ship strikes represent a growing concern for biologists who say boats put several species of whales at risk, including blue and fin whales. This concern has prompted the group Cascadia Research to begin work aimed at better understanding potential solutions to the issue in response to five known cases of blue whales killed by ships hitting them in the southern California area since 2007.