FINNY BUSINESS

Rockaway shark – just in time for holiday

Just when you thought it was safe . . . A shark showed up at Rockaway Beach on Monday — just two days before swimming is set to resume at the popular summer hot-spot.

Local resident Regina Cantoni was near Beach 100th Street at around 2:30 p.m. when she spotted a fin (pictured) just 10 to 15 feet from where she was sitting on the sand.

Hundreds of beachgoers waved off social-distancing protocols as they swarmed to the water’s edge, she said.

“The whole beach came to the shore . . . and started screaming ‘Shark!’ ” she told The Post.

“It was endless. Everyone wanted to get a shot of the shark.”

The 43-year-old real-estate agent followed the fin east, where at one point, the shark seemed to be letting itself wash up on shore with the tide.

“It looked hurt because I could spot some blood on the body,” Cantoni said.

Photos posted on Twitter by the Rockaway Times showed the approximately 7-foot sea creature on the sand, splattered in blood.

The Parks Department said the thresher shark — a species generally harmless to humans — was injured after getting caught on a jetty at Beach 86th Street and later died.

It washed up ashore at Beach 102nd Street, the spokeswoman said, adding, “Parks staff removed and properly disposed of the body.”

The incident took place as the Big

Apple’s eight public beaches are set to reopen for swimming on Wednesday. The city’s 14-miles of beaches have been open to sunbathers, but due to coronavirus restrictions, swimming has been prohibited.

This may have been a good thing on Monday, as it meant that sun worshippers weren’t in the waters when the shark came by.

“Everyone was freaked out especially because it was so close to shore,” Cantoni said.

She said she was even threatened with a ticket for being ankle-deep in the water as she tried to capture the moment, while trying to stay away from the crowd.

It was her first shark sighting in 10 years of frequenting Rockaway Beach — and she said it’ll make her think twice before going in the water in the future.