Cape Cod beaches close after shark spits seal onto shore

EASTHAM, Mass. -- Officials say two Cape Cod beaches closed after visitors spotted a great white shark biting a seal and spitting it back out onto the beach.

Beachgoers at Nauset Light in Eastham, Massachusetts, saw the shark attack the seal at around 4 p.m. Wednesday, which resulted in a pool of blood. The seal was then thrown out of the water onto the beach, where it died.

A one-hour swimming suspension was issued for Nauset Light and Coast Guard beach, due to their proximity to each other. Paige Long, a dispatcher with the Cape Cod National Seashore, says that's standard protocol.

Seals are a primary food source for great white sharks, which have been spotted in the Cape in increasing numbers over the years.

Researchers say they spotted more than a dozen great white sharks off the coast of Cape Cod earlier this month.

Atlantic White Shark Conservancy president Cynthia Wigren says 17 great white sharks congregated off Monomoy National Wildlife Refuge in Chatham on one day. That's nearly double the number researchers typically see during a trip at this time of the year.

Wigren says it was the biggest day of the season in terms of the number of sharks that were identified.

The conservancy tracks sharks by plane and boat twice a week in the summer. Wigren says the number of sightings could grow in September due to the high activity they've seen this season.

Scientists say more sharks have been coming to Cape Cod because of growing numbers of prey such as seals.

Last month, CBS Boston reported that a great white shark was found stranded on a beach in Cape Cod. The seven and-half foot shark was found on a sandbar at low tide.