At 7 am yesterday morning a deceased white shark Carcharodon carcharias was reported to the Dyer Island Conservation Trust by Anton Barnard in Pearly Beach. Marine Dynamics biologist Kelly Baker, the International Marine Volunteers and our staff assisted to retrieve the animal with our Samel vehicle. From external observations we can confirm the juvenile shark is a 2.63m (total length) specimen, a young female. She had no obvious signs of trauma however after washing the sand off her at the International Marine Volunteers lodge, with additional input from Dr Alison Kock of Shark Spotters, we observed measured and photographed any potentially interesting markings.
There will no doubt be speculation that Orcinus orca is responsible for this mortality as only yesterday we documented the two male Orca in the area. The fact is we cannot confirm this, it could also just be a coincidence. The autopsy of this shark will take place at Department of Environmental Affairs and will hopefully reveal more about the cause of death, which at this stage is very much inconclusive. Professor Susan Dippenar from University of Limpopo was on site with us and was able to sample live parasitic copepods from the sharks mouth-an indication that this animal had likely washed up recently before found. Interestingly the stranding site is where we have retrieved two dead whale shark Rhincodon typus carcasses in the past. It is an area known for strong currents.
