It’s what sharks dream of: An enormous straightforward meal.
Fortunate sharks had been lately noticed chowing down on a basking shark’s liver off the North Shore, in keeping with a neighborhood whale watch.
The 7 Seas Whale Be careful of Gloucester got here throughout the feast on Wednesday. The mesmerized whale watchers acquired a front-row seat to blue sharks feeding on the large liver of a basking shark.
“It was so cool,” 7 Seas Whale Watch lead naturalist Amanda Johnston instructed the Herald. “It’s something you might see in National Geographic, but we’ve never seen anything like this out here.”
The boat was in Jeffreys Ledge, about 33 miles north of Gloucester, once they acquired a report from one other boat that there was some giant piece of fats or carcass floating on the floor. The whale watch then discovered the shark’s liver with a bunch of birds round.
“It was pretty incredible,” the 7 Seas Whale Watch posted. “I could have watched this all day!”
“… There were chunks of it (the basking shark) spread out for miles,” the whale watch added. “It may have just died of natural causes and has been torn apart by sharks over time. But exactly how it died I guess we’ll never know.”
Blue sharks are identified to scavenge on basking shark carcasses, in keeping with John Chisholm, an adjunct scientist on the New England Aquarium.
For example, Captain John Boats out of Plymouth throughout a whale watch final August got here throughout a useless basking shark that was being scavenged by 5 to 6 blue sharks.
“It was an incredible sight,” Captain John Boats posted.
Basking sharks are the second largest fish on the planet. The everyday basking shark that native whale watches see are about 20 to 25 toes lengthy, weighing a number of tons.
7 Seas Whale Watch has been seeing fairly a couple of blue sharks in latest weeks.
In the meantime on the South Shore this week, an injured seal with a shark chunk washed up on a Duxbury seaside. The Whale and Dolphin Conservation rescue workforce acquired a name about an injured male yearling harbor seal.
“We quickly made our way to the beach and after assessing the seal’s injuries and discussing options with our veterinarians and rehabilitation facilities, we made the decision to collect him in hopes that he could have a second chance in rehab,” Whale and Dolphin Conservation posted.
“Unfortunately, after a full examination, we discovered that these injuries, severe tissue damage and bone fractures from a shark interaction, were too extensive for treatment,” WDC added. “We made the tough, but humane choice to euthanize him. Euthanasia is not a decision that we take lightly. We gather as much information as possible and work directly with highly skilled and trained marine mammal veterinarians to make the best decision for the welfare of the animal.”
Whereas there’s an uptick of nice white shark exercise this time of yr, researchers additionally obtain many stories of ocean sunfish, also called Mola molas.
“Is it a white shark fin, or another animal? As we start to see more reports of Mola Molas (ocean sunfish) along the coastline, they can be misidentified as white sharks,” the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy posted.
“As they sun themselves, their dorsal fin will flap in and out of the water,” AWSC added. “BUT Mola Molas are not the only animal that can be mistaken for a white shark. Seals will often bobble at the surface, stretching their head up, and can be mistaken for a white shark fin from far away.”
