HUNTINGTON BEACH – A 7-foot, juvenile great white shark was spotted Friday morning swimming from the Huntington state beach to the local beach, but lifeguards scared it away from the shoreline.

An Anaheim Police Department helicopter crew was flying over the water shortly before 10:50 a.m. when they spotted a great white shark in the waters near Beach Boulevard on the border between the two beaches, said Lt. Claude Panis of the Huntington Beach Lifeguards.

Police officials told lifeguards the shark was between 10 and 20 feet long, prompting a 15-minute beach closure.

Lifeguards went to the area of the shark sighting and found a 7-foot great white shark, likely a juvenile, but officials scared it away from the shoreline, Panis said.

Because the shark was not as large as originally suspected, lifeguards downgraded the safety measures and reopened the beach, but kept signs posted on the shore alerting beach goers to the sighting.

The signs will stay up one mile north and south of the Huntington Beach Pier until Saturday morning, Panis said.

The shark had no contact with people, and no immediate danger was suspected.

Later Monday afternoon a television copter captured images of a shark of approximately the same size off the coast of Manhattan Beach.

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