basking shark off gilgo

[williehookem]

Anyone go out there to see it? I can't imagine a shark that big.



http://wcbstv.com/local/washed.ashor...2.1085062.html


Jul 14, 2009 7:07 pm US/Eastern
'Harmless' 20-Foot Shark Washes Up On L.I. Beach

Estimated At 2,000 Pounds, Basking Shark Is Second Only To Whale Shark In Size; Jaw-Dropped Beachgoers Stunned

Reporting
Hazel Sanchez
BABYLON, N.Y. (CBS) ―
Click to enlarge 1 of 1
A 20-foot-long basking shark washed ashore on a Long Island beach on July 14, 2009. CBS





It was a sight like many have never seen before.

Talk about a fish out of water.

A 20-foot long shark weighing an estimated ton washed up on the sands of Gilgo Beach on Long Island on Tuesday.

"Jaws"-dropped Beachgoers broke out their cameras to get a rare snapshot.

"I haven't seen a shark in the water around here, but in other places like Hawaii and Puerto Rico," one beachgoer said.

At first, spectators weren't sure what to make of the giant creature.

"I was about to go in the water and I saw this thing laying on the beach. Pretty crazy. I thought it was a great white or something," said surfer Andrew Brooke.

Turns out there's nothing to fear here. This was a basking shark which, though big, is not considered dangerous.

"He's a plankton feeder. You can see inside there's no teeth inside his mouth," said marine biologist Tracy Marcus. "He's a relatively harmless kind of shark, but large."

"It's the second largest fish in the world, second to the whale shark," Marcus said.

Marcus works with the Cornell Cooperative Extension and examined the giant fish.

"I don't see any major scarring, I mean there is a little bit of a boat hit, it looks like, a little bit of rawness near the tail, but nothing that would kill a shark," Marcus said.

"It would have been fun if it was still alive. I could have surfed aside it, maybe caught some waves, and rode its fin, grabbed on. No, but, I thought it was pretty cool that something this big could wash up here," said surfer James McGaley.

Marine experts said while basking sharks are common in the waters off Long Island, it's not common for them to come ashore to die.

Experts will determine the exact cause of death and the shark will be buried in nearby sand dunes.

[nitestrikes]

Heard about it on the news on the way home from work yesterday. They reported a large shark swimming off Southhampton last week, so maybe this was the one. That's a shame to see a creature as large as this die.


http://www.newsday.com/news/printedi...,2894078.story





Researchers eye shark washed ashore at Gilgo Beach

BY MARISSA BHOLAN | marissa.bholan@newsday.com 10:53 PM EDT, July 14, 2009
A large basking shark washed up on Gilgo Beach in Babylon. (Photo by James Carbone / July 14, 2009)



Eager to scrutinize a species with few samples available for study, researchers Tuesday sliced up the carcass of an enormous basking shark that washed up on Gilgo Beach in Babylon, with plans to send samples of the animal around the world.

The barely alive 26-foot shark startled beachgoers when it appeared on shore Tuesday.

Click here to see photos of the shark

"It came in alive, wasn't in good shape and died," said Demian Chapman, 34, assistant professor at Stony Brook University's School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences.

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It's unclear why the shark died, but researchers believe it was ill or had been injured. The Riverhead Foundation for Marine Research and Preservation will determine the cause of death, state parks spokesman George Gorman said.

Tracy Marcus of Cornell Cooperative Extension told The Associated Press the dead shark weighed about a ton. She said it is unusual for ailing basking sharks to come ashore.

No one is allowed to kill basking sharks, an important species that researchers are eager to study, Chapman said.

DNA from the shark's biological samples will be used to study its movement; its backbone will be tested to determine its age and its reproductive organs will help determine its maturity, he said.

Chapman and members of the Riverhead Foundation began cutting up the shark about 3 p.m., said Robert DiGiovanni, director of the foundation. "We want to make this difficult process more manageable," he said. "It will take a couple of hours to cut it into smaller pieces for study, but the rest of the shark will become part of the ecosystem."

A large crowd gathered around the shark Tuesday and snapped photos with their camera phones, their mouths open.

"I can't believe something so big is in our waters," said Susan Webb, of Westchester.

Later, others watched the shark's dismemberment. "It's a bloody affair," said Bob Saenz, 45, of West Islip. "They cut the shark's flesh into cubes. You don't see that every day."

[wish4fish]

dudes if i was fishin the surf and that thing came swimming by at night i would crap my pants any of you dudes who say you wouldn't are lyin,lol

[clamchucker]

It is one thing to see the pictures and another to see it in person. That is a large shark. I am sure all the children who got the chance to see it will never forget it.