By Pete Thomas/ForTheWin Outdoors A man walking on a Southern California beach Friday discovered a well-preserved carcass of a bizarre-looking fish that typically resides at depths of 2,000-plus feet. The extraordinary discovery of what has since been identified as a female Pacific footballfish, a type of anglerfish, was made by Ben Estes at Crystal Cove State Park in Newport Beach. Images of the 18-inch anglerfish were captured by Estes and Crystal Cove employees, and shared to Facebook on Saturday by Davey’s Locker Sportfishing & Whale Watching. It’s been identified as a deep ..read more

By Pete Thomas A wildlife photographer this week shared a “super rare” photo showing a large sea snake breaching nearly clear of the surface at the Great Barrier Reef in the Coral Sea. The eye-catching image caused some of Rachelle Mackintosh’s Instagram followers to look twice while trying to figure out precisely what they were seeing. But Mackintosh assured in her description that it was an olive sea snake, a venomous reef predator that typically remains hidden by day, breaking the surface in what seemed a bizarre behavior. Mackintosh, from Sydney, Australia, captured the image in June 2017 ..read more

By Pete Thomas A tourist in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, while flying a drone from his hotel balcony, has captured footage of a humpback whale helping to cause a man to fall overboard. Also featured in Lou Boyer's footage is a humpback whale calf born just hours earlier, and turkey vultures going after the drone. Boyer's footage, captured Nov. 29 from Playa Grande Resort, is wonderfully narrated but here are a few observations: The whales in question appear at 52 seconds and involve a momma humpback whale and her newborn calf – likely born the same day – and most likely a male “escort” whale. It ..read more

By Pete Thomas Ghost or Grinch? These are just two observations regarding an image captured via drone Friday off Australia’s Bondi Beach, just in time for Halloween. The image, captured by Drone Shark App and shared via social media, shows two swimmers and what’s described as a grey nurse shark swimming through an immense school of salmon just yards from shore. The swimmers parted the salmon in the form of two circular clearings, which appear as eyes in a ghost-like face, while the shark cleared an area that might be perceived as a mouth. The salmon school was so dense that the swimmers and s ..read more

By Pete Thomas A black bear provided tense moments for a family in Mammoth Lakes, Calif., recently when it removed a window screen and considered breaking into the house. “We got a visit from one of our neighbors, apparently he is not fond of our front door and doesn’t know what ‘shoo’ means,” Christian Pondella joked on Instagram. As viewers can see, the light-colored black bear deftly removes the screen and sniffs for several seconds as Pondella and his wife and son try shooing the bruin. At one point the bear seems on the verge of climbing through the window. Pondella, an adventure p ..read more

By Pete Thomas Devin Kanda was fortunate to have been facing the right direction when a large tiger shark surfaced as his feet dangled from his kayak recently off Oahu. As Hawaii News Now states in the video report posted below, Kanda had just caught an 18-pound ono off Diamond Head when he spotted the approaching shark, enabling a quick response. “I caught it in my peripheral [vision] … and I looked up,” he said. “And just in time I pulled my leg before it could take a bite of my foot.” Kanda’s video camera was operating during the July 4 encounter. His footage was picked up by Ha ..read more

By Pete Thomas Great white sharks are not known for their speed, so for Matt Larmand it was surprising to watch a young white shark dash across the surface at perhaps 20 mph. “He was going at least 20 mph,” Larmand said. “I was going full throttle on the drone trying to catch up to him.” Larmand, an licensed drone pilot for Dana Wharf Whale Watching, captured the accompanying footage Thursday from his home on Capistrano Beach in Dana Point, Ca.   Capo Beach, as the community is referred to by locals, sometimes attracts juvenile white sharks in spring and summer. The sharks prey on ..read more

By Pete Thomas A reporter for NBC Montana has gained social media fame for his hilarious – and wise – reaction during a close bison encounter inside Yellowstone National Park. “Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh no… I ain’t messing with you,” Deion Broxton says in the accompanying footage, after noticing the advancing herd and before ducking for cover behind the crew vehicle. “Oh no. I’m not messing with you.”   Bison do not appear in the footage Broxton tweeted Wednesday, which was later shared to Facebook by NBC News Montana (both clips were widely circulated). But Broxton later tweeted a clip of se ..read more

By Pete Thomas There’s not much to write about Kobe Bryant that isn’t already known, but how many fans know that the NBA superstar was fascinated by sharks? He was so curious that in the summer of 2013, while recovering from a torn achilles tendon, Bryant traveled to Mexico’s Guadalupe Island to dive with great white sharks. Martin Graf of Shark Diver said that the Los Angeles Lakers’ star enjoyed close views of two white sharks while inside the cage, and afterward soaked up the magical atmosphere surrounding the vast and remote volcanic island, 150 miles west of Ensenada.   “It was nic ..read more

By Pete Thomas Keith Poe spends much of his time offshore, trying to lure large sharks close enough to bait and tag for science. What does the Southern California fisherman do with smaller sharks attracted by his chumming technique? The accompanying footage shows Poe gently pulling a free-swimming mako shark by its dorsal fin and stroking its back as casually as one might stroke the back of a family pet. “Come on, girl. Come here,” Poe says, reaching toward the 6-foot shark. “We’re gonna get you some pets. Come on, come on. Yeah, get you some pets.” It’s a definite don’t-try-this-at-home mom ..read more