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Confirmed shark sighting briefly closed some Wellfleet-area beaches

SOUTH WELLFLEET, Mass. (MyFoxBoston.com/AP) – Several Cape Cod beaches in the Wellfleet area were closed for about an hour or experienced swimming restrictions after a shark fin was spotted off Marconi Beach Monday afternoon.

According to the Cape Cod Times, the fin was spotted by multiple beachgoers about 30 yards off Marconi Beach in Wellfleet at about 1 p.m.

As a result, Marconi Beach was closed to swimming and Wellfleet town beaches on the Atlantic Ocean side of Cape Cod were limited to wading for about an hour.

Cape Cod National Seashore Chief Ranger Leslie Reynolds told the newspaper the fin remained on top of the water for about 10 minutes as it moved north along the beach.

Reynolds was told by shark experts the shark behaved in a manner similar to a basking shark and not a great white. The species has not yet been confirmed, and she is hoping to see some photographs taken by beach visitors, reports the Cape Cod Times.

It was the first confirmed sighting off the National Seashore this summer.

No more sightings were reported Monday.

Nauset Beach was closed for an hour in June after a great white shark sighting. Great whites have been seen off Cape Cod in recent years, apparently hunting for seals.

A great white bit a man swimming off Truro's Ballston Beach last year.

For more information: Cape Cod Times