Shark sighting off beach in South Jersey caught on video

CAPE MAY POINT, New Jersey (WPVI) -- It was like a scene out of a movie for beachgoers in South Jersey earlier this week.

Just after 3 p.m. Monday, people sat on the beach in Cape May Point, noticing fins peeking out of the waves.

"I just saw a dolphin. Well, I thought it was a dolphin," said 12-year-old Riley Fernald.

While dolphins are common in the area, people soon noticed it was something else.

"We saw two fins pop up really close and we thought it was maybe two sharks, but when we got a closer look it was one long, six-foot shark," said Maia Golub.

That was enough to send people running for the sand.

"Sharks are always out here. We swim with sharks every day. Most of the time you just don't see them," said Cape May Point Beach Patrol Chief Ben Swan.

He says this tends to happen once a summer, and his lifeguards are prepared.

"The guards are trained to look out for whatever may be in the water. Any sort of threats in the area. If there are sharks, our response is just to clear the water for the meantime," said Swan.

A few miles off the coast of Cape May, there was another shark discovery, which Marine Biologist Carlee Dunn found very exciting.

She works as a naturalist for the Cape May Whale Watch and Research Center.

"The past week we've had two different sightings of basking sharks, right off of Cape May," said Dunn. "This is unusual because basking sharks tend to be pelagic species, so they spend more of their time in deeper water offshore."

Some say they find these close-up sightings unsettling.

According to trackingsharks.com, over the past five years, there have been an average of 40 unprovoked shark attacks per year in the U.S.

Dunn says sharks are known to follow their food source and are not typically looking for humans.

"Just take it as a really neat sighting. They're following their fish and it's a sign of a healthy ecosystem," said Dunn. "They're keeping everything else in check in our area."