It Was Like ‘JAWS’ Came to Life This Weekend Off Wells Beach in Maine

Would this sight be frightening to you or one of the coolest things that you could ever see in your life? (For the record, there's no wrong answer, and "both" is absolutely an acceptable answer.)

Mainers (and probably some Granite Staters and others from away, considering how much this viral picture spread) were in awe over the weekend after a picture taken by a man named Steve Brettell was posted on the F/V Nor'easter Facebook page. It was a picture that quite literally looked like something straight out of the movie JAWS.

Maine Shark Attacks

Let's not mislead you and put it right out there -- a shark attack did NOT happen over the weekend. The reference to JAWS is merely a tip of the cap to seeing a shark feed, which is what happened over the weekend. In fact, in the history of Maine, there have only been two shark attacks ever reported.

According to NBC New York, the first-ever attack reported in Vacationland was in 2010 off Eastport. The second attack, which was unfortunately fatal, happened almost exactly one year ago, when, according to National Geographic, a 63-year-old woman from New York City was killed after an attack from a great white shark off Bailey Island.

Thankfully, though, there was no attack seen this past weekend to either a human or another member of the sea. A whale carcass was first seen at night during an evening cruise on Perkins Cove, and was later photographed by Steve Brettell the next morning being snacked on by what's been identified as a porbeagle shark.

Obviously, the whale passing is a massive bummer, but how amazing is this to see with the naked eye off the coast of Maine and not only in a movie? It's one of those half-amazing but half-scary nature occurrences that is just so cool to see first-hand.