Beachgoers trying to enjoy one last weekend on Cape Cod were instead greeted with a great white shark. The 2,000-pound beast washed up on the shore, and rather than take selfies with the reason #TeamDryLand exists, the crowd tried to lift the shark and put it back into the sea. Despite a continuous stream of water and a crude pool, the attempt was… unsuccessful.
The 14-foot adult male washed up alive on the busy beach Sunday morning after apparently failing to navigate the shallows, said Greg Skomal, a shark expert with the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries.
Skomal said that saving the animal would have been very difficult, and that it was probably dead before it was returned to the water. “There’s only so much you can do — it’s a fish out of water,” Skomal said. “They’re basically drowning.” (Via)
Shark experts love saying “fish out of water” as much as dog trainers love saying “barking up the wrong tree.” Anyway, Skomal performed a necropsy on the great white but couldn’t determine a cause of death, other than Not In The Water. “On land,” the Boston Globe reports, “the shark began to bleed internally under its own weight.” Shouldn’t have had a fifth helping of seal that day.
(Via Boston Globe)
