A Connecticut fisherman thought he saw a dolphin. It was a hammerhead shark

As Windsor Locks resident Joshua Enman was fishing off the Connecticut coast on Monday, he said he saw a fin sticking out of the water. He figured it was a dolphin, but as he eased his boat closer with his friends on board, they realized it was a hammerhead shark.

“I looked over the side of the boat and I was like, ‘Holy (expletive).’ And I pulled my phone out and just caught it on video,” Enman said. “Right at the end of the video, when I stopped, it came around the front of my boat and like took his face out of the water…he kind of like tail slapped my boat and dove straight out.” 

Enman said he spotted the hammerhead while fishing with his friends for small fluke off Black Point in Niantic Bay, after launching his boat from the Connecticut shoreline. Enman, 37, said he has visited those waters since he was 5 and has never seen a shark out there before. 

According to Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) Fisheries Biologist David Molnar, Enman encountered a smooth hammerhead shark. Molnar said hammerhead sightings are rare in Long Island Sound, with only five reported through the DEEP’s Coastal Shark Reporting Application, which has been running for two years.

Molnar encouraged boaters who encounter sharks in Connecticut waters to report sightings through DEEP’s Coastal Shark Reporting Application. He also urged anyone who catches a shark to release it without harm. Molnar added that the sharks are “relatively harmless and feed on skate and rays.” 

“Sharks and other fish species do not recognize political boundaries and migrate to favorable habitats to thrive,” Molnar said. “When we are in or on the ocean…We are guests in their home.” 

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This article originally published at A Connecticut fisherman thought he saw a dolphin. It was a hammerhead shark.