A
great hammerhead shark
of more than 4 meters was found dead on the coast of Orange Beach, Alabama, United States.
The presence of this marine fish surprised beachgoers, who brought it ashore and contacted Coastal Resources, a government organization that promotes and protects nature.
According to an account on his Facebook site, Coastal Resources personnel arrived quickly and was able to remove him from the beach.
"Although it was very sad that it happened, we were excited by the rare opportunity to see a great hammerhead in such good condition. We immediately began contacting various agencies to see who was available to come collect data on this unique specimen," he said. in the post.
So Dr. Drymon of Mississippi State University Marine Fisheries Ecology, a researcher who focuses on coastal sharks, sent a team to perform a necropsy on the shark.
Vacationers found the lifeless shark.
Facebook Beach Coastal Resources
Although the cause of death has yet to be determined, researchers discovered that
the shark was pregnant with 40 shark pups.
The nature preservation site stated that finding a large pregnant female is very rare, and the data collected will be tremendously useful in learning about Great Hammerhead fecundity.
Named for its
hammer-shaped head
, it is a critically endangered species and one of the largest sharks in the world, capable of weighing almost 450 kilos and reaching a length of 6 meters.
Shark pups were extracted lifeless after necropsy.
Facebook/MarineFisheriesEcology
It feeds on smaller fish, octopus, squid and rays, which it locates by using its hammer head to scan the sand like a giant, meaty treasure detector.
The University of Mississippi, summoned for the necropsy, responded on its Facebook account to a series of questions about its actions after the death of the great hammerhead shark.
He stated that unfortunately it is impossible to determine the cause of death with absolute certainty.
"We examined, in detail, the shark's heart, liver, esophagus, stomach, displacement valve, spleen, kidneys, and pancreas, and none of these organs showed signs of trauma. Furthermore, there were no abnormal lesions. no unusual parasites," he reported.
But he did establish a possibility of death, given the pregnant status of the female: "We know that great hammerheads are especially prone to the physiological effects of
capture stress
, more so than most other shark species. Pregnancy exacerbates this stress. Therefore, we
suspect that death was a result of fishing mortality."
The pups are being examined to see how long it was until they were born.
Facebook Beach Coastal Resources
The pups did not survive.
The shark (and all of its young) were already dead when they washed up on the beach.
The specialists also collected samples of the fin clips from each of the pups.
"In combination with fin clips from the mother, these samples can be used to determine sibling relationship; the pups of many shark species are sired by more than one male, a phenomenon known as 'multiple paternity,'" they said.
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