BY BOB HOLT

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

Shark Week is coming up in less than two weeks, but the appearance of sharks is not uncommon at the Jersey shore.

This summer has been no exception.

Manasquan-Belmar Patch reported that there was a shark sighting in Belmar last week, and brown sharks were also said to be spotted at Brick beaches.

And this year they’re bringing their friends. Sightings of schools of stingrays on a few occasions this summer have made officials at Point Beach and Toms River pull beach visitors out of the water as a precautionary measure.

The sightings have not been limited to the beaches. Occasionally sharks spot unwelcome visitors invading what they consider their waters. Back in June, The Press of Atlantic City reported that an approximately 14-foot shark circled the 28-foot boat of three fishermen from Little Egg Harbor Township.

And a 300-plus pound mako shark jumped into a 31-foot boat off the Manasquan Inlet just days before that.

If that isn’t enough, the sightings go back a few years. In late July 2012, beach patrons were pulled out of the water in Lavallette, Loch Harbor, and Spring Lake because stingrays were spotted along the coast, according to nj1015.com.

Bob Schoelkopf of the Marine Mammal Stranding Center in Brigantine said, according to nj1015.com, “The stingrays come every year at this time to feed on the baby clams that are in the surf. They swim along in the shallows, take scoops of sand up with clams, filter out the sand and eat the clams.”

Between 15 and 30 stingrays were seen in Loch Arbor that day, causing the beach to be closed. Point Beach chief lifeguard Dean Albanese said, according to Manasquan-Belmar Patch, "You are 99 percent safe with the rays swimming through. Some have barbs with bacteria on it, but the chance of you getting stung by them are highly unlikely."