‘That’s insane.’ Huge hammerhead shark emerges right next to Texas beach, video shows

A fisherman was casting his line into shallow water off the Texas coast when a huge hammerhead shark emerged from below, TikTok video shows.

Jason Schilling shared the video May 24, capturing the unexpected and unnerving sight at San Luis Pass, on the west end of Galveston.

At first, Schilling’s phone is pointed into the distance, looking for a glimpse of fins peeking out of the gray-brown water. But then the shark appears much closer, to his left, almost half of its body breaching the surface — leaving no doubt about its massive size.

“This thing came right up to the land,” Schilling can be heard saying in the video.

“I didn’t know they go that shallow,” he says. “That’s insane, I’ve never seen that before.”

The water the shark was swimming in was only knee-deep, Schilling told TV station KRIV, adding that the shark was between 10 and 11 feet long.

There are 10 species of hammerhead shark, with the largest being the Great Hammerhead, which grows up to 20 feet, experts say.

Shark attacks are rare, and hammerhead attacks even more so, according to the Florida Museum of Natural History’s International Shark Attack File.

In the world, there have only been 18 documented hammerhead attacks against people, and none have been fatal, museum data shows.

This story was originally published May 31, 2023 at 10:41 AM with the headline "‘That’s insane.’ Huge hammerhead shark emerges right next to Texas beach, video shows."