Great White Shark Washes Ashore; Officials Close New England Beaches

[onehandle]

Source: ABC

A massive shark washed up on a New England beach this weekend, prompting officials to close down two nearby beaches. The Great White weighing about 1,600 pounds was discovered on the border of Rhode Island and Massachusetts.

When fisherman Gary Severa first spotted the 13-foot predator Saturday morning, he thought it was driftwood but after getting a closer look there was no mistaking what he found. “It was pretty scary standing next to that thing…it made your adrenaline go cause he’s stone dead, but my God, it has jaws written all over it,” Severa said.

Officials are not sure why this great white died or how it ended up here. Taking no chances, they closed the two nearby beaches – South Shore Beach and Goosewing Beach– for swimmers.

Officials closed nearly 10 miles of Cape Cod beaches because it was “not safe to go back in the water,” after that stretch of Massachusetts sand was the scene of a feeding frenzy caught on tape last month.

Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2012/09/great-white-shark-washes-ashore-officials-close-new-england-beaches

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Imagine the size of the shark that killed that shark.



Kidding. I hope.

[left on green only]

1. Good move! If that's what the polluted water did to a shark....

there's no tell'in what it might do to swimmers.

[SunSeeker]

3. So who fileted his belly?

[LeftyMom]

4. Possibly it burst due to rot.

Looks pretty ripe. Gasses build up inside as rot sets in, pressure gets high enough and the skin splits. Roadkill does it in the summer.

Could also be scavengers, either in the water or on the beach. If another big shark (or an orca- they will fuck a white shark up) had got hold of it there'd be much less left.

[SunSeeker]

5. Ewww. Thanks for the info....I think.

[backwoodsbob]

7. apparently found intact.

my first thought was orca's.They will fuck a shark up.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

14. A dolphin could have rammed it

They've been known to slam them in the ribcage to kill them, but I'd figure they'd find some sort of trauma.

[NutmegYankee]

6. A bunch of scientists cut it open to examine the stomach contents.

The shark was intact when found.



http://www.wcvb.com/news/local/boston-south/-/9848842/16453696/-/12l1hcm/-/index.html


http://www.wcvb.com/news/local/boston-south/Cause-of-great-white-shark-s-death-on-shore-unclear/-/9848842/16459658/-/epp8n7/-/index.html
A Massachusetts marine biologist who examined a 13-foot great white shark carcass found ashore near the Rhode Island state line wasn't able to determine how the shark died, state officials said Sunday.

State biologist Greg Skomal performed a necropsy on the 1,500-pound male shark Saturday and found no signs of trauma. A fisherman discovered the carcass Saturday morning on a rocky shoreline in Westport, less than a half-mile from public beaches in Little Compton, R.I.

Read more: http://www.wcvb.com/news/local/boston-south/Cause-of-great-white-shark-s-death-on-shore-unclear/-/9848842/16459658/-/epp8n7/-/index.html#ixzz25NTaqx00

[thelordofhell]

10. Did they find that little Kintner boy???

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

12. This is not the time nor the place for some half assed autopsy on a fish! (n/m)

[4th law of robotics]

28. Actually they are mammals, not fish.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

29. Um....besides that it's a line from a movie....

...no, they aren't....sharks are most definitely fish.

[4th law of robotics]

30. A) I know

B) I was joking.

[wordpix]

21. "no signs of trauma" - pollution bioaccumulating up food chain

As top ocean predator, a great shark would bioaccumulate highest concentrations of mercury et al. toxins.

I'm not a shark expert or toxicologist however.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

31. Someone speculated it got caught in a large fishing net and suffocated

....was cut loose and floated in. It's a young white (young....and still 13 freaking feet long) so it seems unlikely it could have been poisoned that rapidly from pollution.

I saw one story claiming a bunch of dolphins washed up too....but I do not think that's the case.

[Posteritatis]

19. It's a lot more likely that it simply died, as things are wont to do eventually. (nt)

[wordpix]

20. my first thought, too---pollution

[JoeyT]

2. Candygram!

Sorry. I had to say it.

[onehandle]

8. Chevy Chase! nt

[olddad56]

11. thank you, a classic

[Brigid]

23. Land shark!

[AsahinaKimi]

9. I JUST HAVE TO....

[cali]

16. glad you felt compelled

that's a riot.

[1monster]

18. And I feel compelled to post this:

Cleverest of them all!

http://www.telly.com/GVSNS?fromtwitvid=1

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

13. Man, they are getting closer and closer to my house

If Mr. Whitey hadn't already been cut up like a kiddie scissor class, I'd go check it out.

[Gormy Cuss]

15. You're gonna need a bigger boat

[adigal]

17. Best movie ever! A masterpiece! Nt

[Scairp]

22. It was already dead

Where was the threat that caused them to close the beaches?

[Brigid]

24. More sharks?

[Tracer]

25. They closed the beaches because

the area where many sharks have been seen (and tagged) is a gathering place for seals -- a favorite snack for great white sharks.

The area affected is on Cape Cod from Monomoy, north to Nauset Beach. Parts of the National seashore and absolutely beautiful places. And there isn't pollution in this area.

The shark in these photos washed up in Westport, MA. Not anywhere near the closed beaches on the Cape.

[wordpix]

26. the unpolluted Nauset area is not necessarily where the shark sickened if toxins did it

Yes it probably died in that area b/c the body wasn't decomposed yet. But if toxins bioaccumulated, it would take awhile to make shark sick---that could have occurred over a lifetime.

[4th law of robotics]

27. Wouldn't those beaches be safer now?

There's at least one fewer shark out there than there was before.