Ecologists are analyzing the stays of a pregnant 14-foot-long nice hammerhead shark that washed up ashore on an Alabama seashore on April 20.
A day after the shark washed ashore, ecologists from the Mississippi State College Coastal Analysis and Extension Heart traveled to Orange Seashore in Alabama to look at a deceased nice hammerhead shark and its 40 pups, which had been all useless once they washed up ashore, MSU Marine Fisheries Ecology stated in a put up on Fb.
Scientists examined the shark’s main organs, together with its coronary heart, abdomen and kidneys, and none confirmed any indicators of trauma.
Mississippi State College Marine Fisheries Ecology
“Furthermore, there have been no irregular lesions or uncommon parasites,” MSU stated.
Scientists stated that whereas it was “unimaginable” to find out the reason for dying with absolute certainty, they believe the shark died on account of fishing mortality — that’s, possible as a result of it was unintentionally caught. They famous that nice hammerheads are extra liable to the physiological results of seize stress than different shark species and being pregnant aggravates physiological stress.
After acquiring samples, the MSU scientists introduced them again to the college lab for additional evaluation. Among the many samples taken had been a number of vertebrae from the grownup shark.
“These can be utilized to find out the age of the shark and its delivery location. Vertebrae can be used to look at inhabitants construction and connectivity,” MSU stated.
Scientists additionally eliminated muscle tissue from the mom shark to find out its feeding habits, the abdomen, and several other fin clips as nicely to “contribute to a present research analyzing genetic inhabitants construction, in addition to the variety of breeding people within the inhabitants.”
Fin clips had been additionally faraway from every of the pups to be able to decide relatedness among the many siblings, as a result of the broods of many sharks are often sired by a couple of male shark in a phenomenon referred to as “a number of paternity,” in line with MSU.
Scientists stated the quantity and measurement of the pups additionally present essential details about brood measurement and the timing of delivery.
MSU stated they plan on preserving the pups and donating them to lecture rooms for instructional functions.
“Though we’re saddened by the lack of these people, we’re grateful to the Metropolis of Orange Seashore Coastal Sources for reaching out to the scientific neighborhood and enabling us to review these distinctive specimens,” MSU stated. “The samples we took present a possibility to boost our information of nice hammerheads within the northern Gulf of Mexico, which is important for his or her continued conservation.”
MSU famous that nice hammerheads shouldn’t be feared as a result of they don’t seem to be aggressive sharks and have by no means been implicated in any deadly assault.
Nice hammerheads positioned off the coast of Alabama patrol coastal waters primarily to hunt stingrays, MSU stated.
