I saw it on the news last night- that thing was HUGE!
To tell the truth, they showed it on a trailer and it looked kinda fake to me.
Something just looked different- I guess it was more like the color of the skin or something!
SARASOTA: A 14-foot long hammerhead shark caught off Boca Grande in May was indeed pregnant, scientists from Mote Marine Laboratory announced.
Staff at Mote Marine believed the 1,280-lb predator was pregnant because it was nearly three-feet wide when examined.
During the necropsy, they found a litter of 55 shark pups, the largest number ever found in a great hammerhead shark.
Since 52 of the pups were nearly full term, experts believe the animal was just days away from giving birth when it was caught.
They say they previously believed great hammerhead litters were 20-40 pups, so the new information is valuable to scientists.
Other notable findings from the necropsy include:
- The hammerhead's reproductive tract weighed nearly 250 pounds
- The animal's stomach contained a whole southern stingray (believed to be the fisherman's bait) and the rear half of an approximately five foot-long tarpon, in addition to numerous tarpon scales. The shark also had a small fishing hook inside her stomach.
- Her liver weighed more than 100 pounds.
- Some of the pups are being saved for future study and scientists have taken samples to be analyzed for genetic makeup. The samples will provide information about the number of males that fathered the pups.
Scientists say the status of great hammerheads in the wild is uncertain. It is legal to harvest them, but experts believe their populations are depleted due to fishing pressure and habitat loss.
"Although we are thankful that the fisherman gave this unique specimen to Mote, and we are learning a lot about this species from this large female shark, we were saddened to see so many unborn pups inside her so close to birth, said Dr. Robert Hueter, director of Mote's Center for Shark Research.
"We ask fishermen not to kill sharks for sport and to remember that shark populations have been severely depleted by overfishing. Very large sharks like this hammerhead are often pregnant females that help maintain the status of the species-population into the future. We advocate release of these large sharks and the tagging of them whenever possible."
A full cast of from the animal's carcass will be made and an educational exhibit about sharks and their status will be created at Mote Aquarium. The lab expects the shark display to be open in the fall.
The status of the shark as a record catch on a rod and reel is still being decided by the International Game Fish Association. A decision is expected in July.
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