An adult white shark appeared dead this weekend on a Florida beach, surprising residents due to its large size.
The animal, which appeared on Navarre Beach in Navarre County, measured between 13 and 15 feet long, that is, between 4 and 4.5 meters long, implying that it was an adult specimen, although not fully developed.
And although at first Navarre Beach Fire and Rescue officials thought it was a pregnant female, Heather Cox, one of the workers who performed the autopsy, clarified that this was impossible.
“Due to the lack of development of her oocytes, it would have been one or two years before she would have been able to get pregnant,” he explained to Rosa News.
On the other hand, he stated that the blood that the specimen had in its mouth was caused by lividity.
“Once the heart stops pumping blood, it starts to pool in the lower parts of the body and can start to leak into places like the mouth,” he explained.
A dead great white shark washed ashore on Navarre Beach in the Florida Panhandle this week. The shark was measured at about 13 feet and estimated to weigh about 1,500 pounds. What killed the shark is undetermined.
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— AL.com (@aldotcom) February 23, 2024
Navarre Beach Fire Chief Danny Fureigh said it’s not unusual for sharks to appear on the beach from time to time, but a shark of this size was unusual because it was quite large.
“He had a certain size. “It’s unusual for a great white shark of this size to show up on the beach,” he told Newsweek.
In networks, the unfortunate images of the animal were shared by users on social networks, where some noticed that the animal had a hook in its mouth.
— Informed Citizens of South Santa Rosa County (@Nav4Progress) February 24, 2024
“It appears that that white shark had been hooked by some fishing gear. Even when the line is cut or broken, the damage caused by the fight itself can lead to the death of a shark in the hours or days afterward, known as post-release mortality,” one explained.
“How sad. What a waste. It is estimated that she was only 30 years old…that’s young for a white shark. “So she didn’t die of old age,” said another. At this time the cause of death has not been publicly reported.
Great white sharks are endangered creatures, and therefore are protected. Their reproduction rate is very slow, as they reach maturity to have offspring until they are between 14 and 30 years old, part of which makes their conservation difficult.
⬇️ 𝐖𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡:
A dead pregnant great white shark washed up on a Florida beach on Friday.Navarre Beach Fire Rescue worked to remove the shark from the beach which measured roughly 13-15 feet in length.
The shark’s cause of death is unknown at this time, but Navarre Beach Fire… pic.twitter.com/S9531JWV32
— RedWave Press (@RedWave_Press) February 25, 2024
#Huge #white #shark #dead #Florida #beach
