100-year-old Greenland shark washed up on British beach, very unusual cause of death

April 10, 2022 10:00 GMT+7

The carcass of a super-rare Greenland shark washed up on the coast of Cornwall, England. Autopsy results showed he had a brain infection before he died.

Greenland bream has a long life, often lives in the deep sea

The 4 meter long shark, weighing about 285 kg, ran aground near the port of Newlyn, Cornwall, southwest England. Experts say the shark had meningitis, so the shark ventured out of its natural habitat in deep water and ended up stranded.

Its body is heavily damaged, bleeding in the soft tissue around the pectoral fins, there is edema in the stomach. This shows that the shark was still alive when it washed ashore. However, due to not being detected in time, it only lived a very short time and then died.

According to a statement by the Zoological Society of London, this is the first case of a Greenland shark death related to disease. This shark has a long life span, but is elusive because it usually lives in the deep waters of the Arctic or north Atlantic Ocean.

An autopsy of the 100-year-old Greenland crayfish revealed that it had a brain infection.

James Barnett, a researcher with the Cornwall Marine Pathology Team, UK, said: “During the autopsy, the shark’s brain was found to be discolored, congested, and the fluid around the brain was cloudy, increasing the likelihood possibility indicates it is infected”.

Scientists carried out microscopic examination that showed Pasteurella bacteria in the brain fluid, which could be the cause of meningitis in Greenland sharks.

This is a juvenile female shark but was about 100 years old when she died. This shows that this is the world’s longest-lived shark as well as one of the longest-living animals.

With science, there are still many mysteries about the Greenland shark, the life expectancy of this species is at least 272 years old. It is one of the largest sharks, comparable in size to the great white. Adult Greenland sharks average 6.4 meters long and weigh 1 ton, can grow to a maximum of 7.3 meters and weigh more than 1.4 tons.

However, the Greenland shark is a very slow swimmer, being one of the slowest sharks, the top speed is only half that of seals. The speed is usually only about 1.22 km / h, the fastest speed is only about 2.6 km / h.

Video of Greenland sharks in the deep waters of the Atlantic Ocean:

Hoang Dung (translation summary)