Hurricane Ian ‘street shark’ video defies belief

PHOTOS and videos of sharks and other marine life swimming in suburban floodwaters make for popular hoaxes during massive storms. But a cellphone video filmed during Hurricane Ian’s assault on south-west Florida isn’t just another fish story.

The eye-popping video, which showed a large, dark fish with sharp dorsal fins thrashing around an inundated

Fort Myers backyard, racked up more than 12 million views on Twitter within a day, as users responded with disbelief and comparisons to the Sharknado film series.

Dominic Cameratta, a local real estate developer, confirmed he filmed the clip from his patio on Wednesday morning when he saw something “flopping around” in his neighbour’s flooded yard.

“I didn’t know what it was – it just looked like a fish or something,” he told the Associated Press. “I zoomed in, and all my friends were like, ‘It’s like a shark, man!’”

He guessed the fish was about 1.2m in length.

Experts were of mixed opinion on whether the clip showed a shark or another large fish.

George Burgess, former director of the Florida Museum of Natural History’s shark programme, said in an email that it “appears to be a juvenile shark”, while Dr Neil Hammerschlag, director of the University of Miami’s shark conservation programme, wrote that “it’s pretty hard to tell”. | AP