Beached basking shark under examination at UGent
An endangered basking shark was discovered beached on the Flemish coast at the weekend and is now undergoing an autopsy at UGent
Secrets to reveal
The basking shark reaches an average five meters long and weighs about 600 kilograms. They are an endangered species, and there is a complete ban on catching them. The beached shark, a young male, probably got disorientated between sandbanks on a treacherous strip of coast at De Panne.
An external examination didn’t turn up any traces of injuries. The scientists also examined the contents of the shark’s stomach. “A basking shark is a plankton eater that swims with its mouth wide open,” said biologist Frederik Mollen. “The animal is very sensitive to plastic particles, which accumulate in the stomach.” This doesn’t seem, however, to have been the cause of death.
The scientists will also take a DNA sample and compare it with other samples of basking sharks. They will also make casts of tissue structures. The skeleton mainly consists of cartilage, so probably only the jaws will be prepared for the university’s Morphology Museum.
Photo courtesy UGent
