With no sharks in sight, Smith Point opens

Can the "Jaws" theme.

Those plankton-eating basking sharks apparently are searching for dinner elsewhere.

There were no sightings Thursday of the big -- but relatively harmless -- basking sharks whose presence prompted this week's closure of Cupsogue Beach County Park in Westhampton and nearby Smith Point County Park, said Tracey Bellone, deputy commissioner for the Suffolk County Department of Parks, Recreation and Conservation.

County officials reopened Smith Point to swimmers yesterday but beachgoers would not be allowed in the water at Cupsogue until Saturday, Bellone said. That, he said, is because lifeguards are not on duty at Cupsogue until the weekends.

"We were out there this morning," Bellone said Thursday. "There have been no sightings." It's not clear where the sharks have gone, she added.

Basking sharks are so-named because they have a habit of sunning themselves near the surface. They can be huge -- often 25 feet in length, sometimes as long as 40 feet, according to marine biologists. The sharks have huge, gaping mouths they use to scoop up plankton.

Unlike the Great White shark of movie fame, they're not man-eaters and they don't usually terrify bathers.

However, officials became alarmed when the sharks were seen Tuesday.

As many as five shark fins were spotted the next day between the bathing area and the Moriches Inlet at Cupsogue about 10 a.m. It was estimated that one of the sharks was 16 to 20 feet long. The others were smaller, witnesses said.

Although the sharks are marine plant-eaters, their menacing fins frightened bathers and officials decided to play it safe and close the beaches.

No sharks were sighted at Smith Point. But the staff has been monitoring the situation because of its proximity to Cupsogue, Bellone said.

With Stacey Altherr