Featured Image Credit: Dyer Island Conservation Trust
By Laura O’Brien
Residents of Pearly Beach, South Africa were in for a jarring surprise when a great white shark was found dead on their coast. Great white sharks are incredibly strong and capable predators; which makes it hard to imagine what on earth would kill a white shark. Dyer Island Conservation Trust set to find out the cause of the shark’s mysterious demise.
With the help of a Marine Dynamics biologist, the International Marine Volunteers, and a marine biologist from Shark Spotters, Dyer Island Conservation Trust was able to retrieve and study the deceased shark.
They took the dead shark to the International Marine Volunteers lodge, where they were able to clean it up and study it. The female white shark was a juvenile, at just over 8.5 feet long. A professor from University of Limpopo discovered parasites in the shark’s mouth which indicate that the shark had not been on the beach long before she was found. She did not have any signs of trauma, but after washing the sand off of her body, the team found strange markings which they hope to identify. These mysterious markings are cause for speculation among the scientists and other interested parties.
Dyer Island Conservation Trust acknowledged that there had been two male orcas in that area the day before the great white was found, this could indicate what happened to the shark. Orcas have been known to attack sharks at times, although interactions between orcas and great whites are uncommon. The conservation trust posted an information about what they found on their Facebook page, where they said that without an autopsy, they can only speculate about what happened to the shark and where the markings came from. They also noted on their Facebook page that, strangely enough, two dead whale sharks have been found in the same spot where the great white washed up.
Hopefully the autopsy results shed some light on the mysterious circumstances surrounding the death of this apex predator.
To learn more, please click here.