A RARE shark has washed up on an Irish beach for the first time ever – leaving experts baffled.
The huge 14ft smalltooth sand tiger shark was discovered by a Swiss tourist at Kilmore Quay in Wexford over the weekend.
It’s the first time the rare shark has been spotted in IrelandCredit: Image credit to Jenny Bortoluzzi and Kevin Purves
The 14ft beast was discovered in WexfordCredit: Image credit to Jenny Bortoluzzi and Kevin Purves
The beast, which was found chopped up, usually swims in deeper waters and is rarely seen by humans.
It’s the first time the species has been officially recorded in Irish waters, experts believe.
The Orca Ireland Facebook page wrote: “Yesterday we received a report that there was a small toothed sand tiger shark (Odontaspis ferox) chopped up into pieces in Kilmore Quay, Co. Wexford.
“We are appealing to members of the public who may have any information as to what happened to the shark and who chopped it up into pieces?
“Please make all future reports of marine wildlife to the @ObserversApp.
“Any information, images or videos can be sent to us directly also via email at observersapp@gmail.com.”
Assistant professor at Trinity College’s School of Natural Sciences Dr Nicholas Payne, who shared images on social media, said tests will be carried out on the sea creature in a bid to find out what caused its death.
He told the Wexford People: “The size of this one was amazing. It’s about as big as they get really.
“We took lots of samples and we’ll look at toxicology reports etc to see if it could have ingested something and we’ll look for signs of viruses and that type of thing to see if we can determine what may have caused its death.
“This would not be a very heavily studied species of shark.
“We can learn a lot about its general biology from this too – what it was eating and that type of thing.”
He added in a tweet: “Normally a deep-water species so these recent standings a little strange.”
The species is not a risk to humans.
Last month, a massive “6ft shark” washed up on a popular UK beach.
The beast was found on Lepe beach, part of the country park on the Solent in southwest Hampshire.
It was initially found alive, according to a Facebook post by British Big Game Fishing, but it now appears to have died after getting stranded on the shore.
Speculation has started as to exactly what type of shark it is but so far it has not been properly identified.
One commentator wrote on the site: “Looks exhausted. Obviously came into the shallows to feed, and couldn’t swim back out into the deep.”
Another added: “No more dips in the sea, thank you.”
A third person said: “S*** man. Gutted about it dying.
“Does go to show there could be anything out there though man.”
Tests are being carried out on the sea creatureCredit: Image credit to Jenny Bortoluzzi and Kevin Purves
