Shark washes ashore in Massachusetts, and ‘something was not right,’ biologists say


Photo from John Chisholm, New England Aquarium

Brendan Rascius
Thu, January 12, 2023 

An emaciated shark washed ashore in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, amid an uptick in strandings in the area, a biologist said.

John Chisholm, a biologist at the New England Aquarium, was alerted on Jan. 10 to a porbeagle shark floundering in the shallow waters of Sagamore Beach, he wrote in a tweet.

Upon Chisholm’s arrival, the sickly creature was moved into deeper water, but died soon after and washed ashore at low tide, he said.

“When we finally recovered it we could see it was very very thin, another indication something was not right,” Chisholm told McClatchy News.

Michelle Passerotti, a doctor with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), performed a necropsy on the shark, revealing a “withered and unhealthy” liver and an internal parasite, Chisholm said. Samples were then taken to help determine the cause of death.

This is the fourth porbeagle stranding in the area reported this winter, which is “kind of unusual,” Passerotti told the Boston Herald. It’s unclear what has caused these deaths.

Porbeagles are a species of highly mobile mackerel shark commonly found in the colder waters across the globe.

“Many types of marine animals strand in this area,” Chisholm said. “The reasons vary, some are sick or injured, this time of year some are cold shocked and sometimes it’s just bad luck.”

Dolphins are particularly known to strand in the Cape Cod area, according to NOAA. Over 100 dolphins became stranded in there during the winter of 2012.

Because the cape is hook-shaped it can make navigating back to the open sea difficult for marine creatures, according to the International Fund for Animal Welfare.