Dead shark washed up
Sea creature ‘could not have been saved’, says Torrevieja town hall biologist
A BLUNTNOSE sixgill shark (Hexanchus griseus) – also known as a cow shark – was found washed up on La Mata beach in Torrevieja on Friday morning.
Local police reported that this deep-water fish measured around four metres in length.
A spokesperson stressed that these sharks are normally found out at sea, typically swimming near the ocean floor between 90 metres and 2,000m from the surface.
In the case of Torrevieja, it would normally be at least 40km offshore, noted town hall biologist Juan Antonio Pujol.
He headed to the beach after the emergency services were alerted, along with local police officers and Guardia Civil.
The ‘perfect condition’ of the shark’s body led them to believe that it had died ‘very recently’.
Sr Pujol explained that later in the day an autopsy was carried out by biologists from Valencia’s Oceanogràfic sea centre and a government scientist.
This lasted three hours and they were able to take many samples which would be examined under laboratory conditions. He said that the procedure would not only allow them to find out the cause of death, but also ‘acquire scientific knowledge about a species that is very difficult to study’.
Shark could not have been saved
Sr Pujol noted that the shark had been discovered on the shore opposite the Molino del Agua municipal park.
He confirmed that it was a female which was around four metres long.
Sr Pujol explained that she was dead when she reached the beach, ‘but even if she had arrived alive they would not have been able to save her’.
“When deep sea animals such as this – or others such as whales – appear on the shore, it is to die, and the only thing that can be done in most cases is to euthanise them,” he said.
Well-intentioned attempts by members of the public to try to help these creatures can sometimes lead to unfortunate accidents, he said.
He added that the cow shark is ‘very docile’.
According to the International Shark Attack File, only one provoked attack involving the cow shark has been reported since the 1500s.
The bluntnose sixgill shark can grow up to six metres in length.
It is found in tropical and temperate waters worldwide.
Its snout is blunt and wide, and its eyes are small.
It has six rows of saw-like teeth on its lower jaw and smaller teeth on its upper jaw.
The six gill slits give the
shark its name, as most common sharks only have five gill slits.
“Adults are very sensitive to and become distressed by light exposure – thus, they spend the day in the dark depths, and forage closer to the surface mainly at night,” notes the SharkSider webpage.