Florida fishermen surprised by Great White shark

PONCE INLET, Fla. (WOFL FOX 35) - Fisherman Kyle Morningstar and a friend were visited by this Great White shark some 26 miles off of Ponce Inlet, Florida. 

"Yelling to my friend, 'Hey, come here and look at this!  There's something big out there.  I don't know what it is!' And right as he got to the front of the boat, it got into plain view where we could see it and he stated, 'Oh man, that's a great white!'"

Morningstar says the shark circled the boat, giving them enough time to grab a phone and start recording. He thinks it was 12 to 15 feet long. 

"It just circled us three times after that or so, and just wasn't bothered by us at all. It was pretty wild to see!"

The shark disappeared into the deep, Morningstar said, but the video is going viral -- a once-in-a-lifetime encounter, now spreading worldwide. 

"It was just something crazy to see and we want people to see it."

Great white sharks are widely distributed throughout the world’s oceans and are highly migratory.  Though they generally prefer colder water, according to the RJ Dunlap Marine Conservation Program at the University of Miami, they have been seen in Florida before (infrequently).  

Great white sharks are estimated to grow to approximately 6 meters, a little less than 20 feet in length.