Experts have both attended and also been consulted to confirm the Shark is a Smalltooth sand tiger Shark (Odontaspis ferox) Sometimes referred to as Gray or Blue nurse shark.
This rare species is often mistaken for the much more common gray nurse shark (Carcharias taurus).
It can be distinguished by its first dorsal fin, which is larger than the second and placed further forward. They reach maximum lengths of around 3.67 m and maximum weights of about 289 kg.
The Smalltooth Sand Tiger is morphologically very similar to the Sand Tiger (Carcharias Taurus) but larger and bulkier.
Efforts are now underway to recover the specimen for further examinations and an autopsy. The Smalltooth Sand Tiger Shark is proclaimed as a strictly protected species.
The Smalltooth Sand Tiger shark is rarely encountered, with only 200 records suggest that naturally, the population is very low in numbers and it is classified as Vulnerable.
Smalltooth sand tiger sharks, Odontaspis ferox, are found in the eastern Atlantic: Gulf of Gascony, Madeira, Morocco, Mediterranean; also Cape Verde and in the western Atlantic: Yucatan Shelf, Mexico. They are also in the Indo-West Pacific: off South Africa and Maldives, Madagascar, southern Japan, Australia, and New Zealand. And they are expected to occur in the western central Pacific, central Pacific: off Hawaii, and in the eastern Pacific: off southern California, US and Baja California, Mexico.
Director of Conservation at The Shark Trust Ali Hood said;
“It’s always good to see rare specimens secured for scientific purposes, and this is no exception.
Efforts are being made to see the specimen retained”.
Shark Biologist Martin Taylor told us;
“This is an extremely unique discovery in UK waters. Determining how it has got here with a thorough examination and studying the specimen in greater detail which is a very rare demersal shark species with little known about the biology of this shark that I have not seen records of being found in the UK, it could be both a very first sighting and discovery”.
