Dead Gigantic Shark Found Hanging at Florida High School, FWC Investigates What Students Claim as a Senior Prank

Sharks usually trigger fear and awe at the same time as no other animal in the ocean. These apex predators live in the deep and shallow waters throughout the world's oceans, in which the majority of them migrate to vast distances to breed and feed. But on a rare occasion, a gigantic dead shark was found hanging on a Florida high school rafters.

The discovery of the hanging shark carcass had prompted an investigation from the school and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) to know who the culprits were.

(Photo : SIA KAMBOU/AFP via Getty Images)
A fisherman carries a finned shark off a fishing boat moored in the Ebrie lagoon fishing harbour in Abobo Doume, Abidjan, on September 29, 2016.

Prank Gone Wrong

Staff and students at Ponte Vedra High School in St. Johns County were surprised to see a hanging dead shark from the raters Thursday morning. New York Post reported that it prompted the investigation from FWC.

Students told News4JAX that the incident was a senior prank. However, even other students couldn't believe the sight of a massive dead shark hanging on the ceiling.

According to Cooper Gottfried, a Ponte Vedra High sophomore, he was "shocked" as he didn't expect to see such gruesome sight and it smelled really bad.

Jim Gelsleichter, Ph.D., associate professor of biology and director of the Coastal and Marine Biology Flagship Program at the University of North Florida, said his first reaction was to ask himself how the shark got up there as it was too huge and "those sharks are very heavy."

The St.John’s County School District confirms a shark was found hanging above a staircase at Ponte Vedra High School this morning. They don’t know who put it there. It was cut down and removed. @wjxt4 viewers sent us pics. A student I spoke with says it was a senior prank. #PVHS pic.twitter.com/prXhToXdtV
— Marilyn Parker (@MarilynParkerTV) May 5, 2022

Upon reviewing the CCTV footage, officials confirmed that the shark was hung by five students on Wednesday night after gutting it and storing it in a freezer.

"At approximately 9 p.m. ... (5/4/22) a group of five high school students at Ponte Vedra High School hung a gutted shark on the rafters of the school courtyard," FWC spokesperson Alex AuBuchon told the Miami Herald. The students used two cables to hang the carcass, which shocked staffers at 8 a.m. the next day.

The carcass has already been removed, but its photos have circulated on the internet, wherein the display was blasted by the public as an inappropriate prank. Some even say that the students should be disciplined for such acts, while others were more forgiving.

For now, the St. Johns County School District is probing the incident before sanctioning the students. The students are set to graduate on May 28. Their last day of school will be on May 19.

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Shark Species That Are Illegal to Harvest in Florida

The school had sent photos of the shark to FWC marine fisheries biologists before they disposed of the carcass to identify the species.

Gelsleichter identified it as a sandbar shark but noted that it's hard to tell for certain from the photos.

Sandbar sharks prefer coastal and offshore sandy areas of the Florida Gulf and Atlantic coasts. The species are prohibited from recreational and commercial harvest in Florida, according to FWC, Newsweek reported.

According to FWC, over two dozen shark species are not legally allowed to be harvested due to population issues, and the details are found in the guidelines they already released.

The Commission added that only one shark per person is allowed in the state. Meanwhile, each vessel is allowed to catch two sharks. So, even if there are more than two anglers in one boat, the maximum is still two sharks.

Harvestable sharks are grouped into three in terms of size. For example, the first category of sharks has no minimum size limit, including Atlantic sharpnose, blacknose, blacktip, bonnethead, fine-tooth, smooth dogfish, Florida smoothhound, and Gulf smoothhound.

On the other hand, group two sharks, such as bull, nurse, spinner, blue, oceanic whitetip, porbeagle, and thresher sharks, should be at least 54 inches to be harvested. Likewise, the shortfin mako shark under group three should be at least 83 inches.