A giant hammerhead fish washed up on the beach was found to be pregnant. There were multiple shark pups found inside it.
Pregnant Hammerhead Washed Ashore
A 14-foot hammerhead shark was washed up on an Alabama beach Thursday. The researchers learned that the dead fish was pregnant, KSAT.com reported.
In a post shared on Facebook, the City of Orange Beach Coastal Resources said they were contacted by a few individuals that pulled it to shore.
Although it was terribly sad that the shark passed away, they were thrilled to have the chance to observe a great hammerhead in such fantastic shape.
They started calling other organizations to see who could collect data from the special specimen. A team was dispatched to do a necropsy on the shark by Dr. Drymon, a Mississippi State University Marine Fisheries Ecology researcher specializing in coastal sharks.
The researchers found out that the shark was expecting 40 shark pups. However, the cause of death has not yet been determined.
It is pretty uncommon to locate a huge pregnant female, and the information gathered will be highly useful in understanding great hammerhead fertility.
Within a few hours of receiving the first contact, their personnel got the shark off the beach, shielded it from the elements, and iced it down. The team was happy to have played a small part in this unusual instance, as it was undoubtedly an experience they wouldn't soon forget.
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Pregnant Sharks With New Tracking Technology
In a previous report from Science Times, there's a new technology to track pregnant sharks. Researchers developed 2-inch long and 1-inch wide birth-alert-tags (BATs) shaped like an egg.
They insert it into a pregnant shark to track its pregnancy. The. BAT will be released along with the pups, and once it's out, the device will switch to transmitter mode and send a message informing them about the location and time of birth.
James Sulikowski, the author of the study and a professor at Arizona State University, and Neil Hammerschlag said a suitable habitat is critical for pregnant sharks to deliver their babies. Otherwise, baby sharks will not grow up.
Through BAT, scientists have discovered a lot about shark maternity. For instance, people believed that sand sharks gave birth on land, but the device showed that they prefer to give birth in sunken ships on the ocean below.
Sulikowski claimed that they were shocked by the discovery. He acknowledged that it is unknown where most shark species give birth or how far they go to engage in behaviors crucial to survival.
Once the habitats are found, they will make sure to preserve them by building sanctuaries or increasing the areas designated for the purpose.
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