Watch: Feasting Great White Sharks Prompt Beach Warning In Bay Area: Report

HALF MOON BAY, CA — A drone video showing multiple great white sharks feeding on a dead whale near Half Moon Bay has prompted experts to warn surfers and swimmers to avoid the area.

Sam Rigling, a drone operator from Pacifica, filmed the scene Thursday at Martin's Beach, a few miles south of Half Moon Bay. The footage shows as many as six juvenile and adult great white sharks feeding on the whale carcass.

"I spent most of the day filming multiple Great Whites tear apart this whale carcass," Rigling wrote in the social media post. "I must of seen 6-8 different sharks throughout the day. A handful of juveniles and 2 or 3 large Whites"

Chris Lowe, director of the Shark Lab at Cal State Long Beach, told SFGATE that sharks feeding on dead whales is common behavior because the carcasses provide an easy food source.

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The smell of a whale carcass can attract sharks from miles away, Lowe told SFGATE, and people should avoid swimming or surfing nearby because feeding sharks can become defensive and mistake humans for other animals approaching the carcass.

The sighting comes during what Lowe previously described to SFGATE as a potentially "sharky" summer along the California coast, with warmer ocean conditions bringing great white sharks back earlier and in greater numbers.

Read the full story at SFGATE.