Tourists record great white shark devouring seal near Alcatraz

Savage nature was on display when a great white shark devoured a seal just a few feet off Alcatraz Island in full view of gawking tourists, the first attack by the ferocious finned predator in the modern history of San Francisco Bay.

The bloody spectacle over the weekend was proof that one of the most feared beasts of prey in the ocean sometimes takes feeding forays into bay waters that swimmers, windsurfers and kayakers frequent. Some believe it was also a sign that this year’s robust El Niño is driving sharks northward into uncharted territory.

The attack was recorded in all its gory detail by a tourist standing on a dock, complete with the superlative-laced exclamations of a boy who had a once-in-a-lifetime view of the carnage.

“That’s a great white! Holy crud!” yelled the boy in the video taken by tourist Meredith Coppolo Shindler, which showed the telltale dorsal fin skimming around a deep red plume of blood left by the butchered pinniped.

http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Tourists-record-great-white-shark-devouring-seal-6566229.php