Eh, maybe it's a good thing that the Atlantic is so bloody cold that we never go in it (although all you Lahinch and Bundoran surfer-heads may want to rethink your wild abandon in the water), seeing as a 6ft shark in the same family as the Great White was found washed up on Aughacasla beach in Castlegregory this weekend.
1.8m porbeagle shark, member of Great White family, washed up on a beach in Kerry. Image Bernard Fitzgerald pic.twitter.com/250Nrt6rM4
— Mark Dunphy (@Mark_Dunphy) March 11, 2014
The female Porbeagle shark (which Google kindly informs us is a mackerel shark that is widely distributed in the North Atlantic which is only slightly terrifying) was discovered by a local photographer by the name of Bernard Fitzgerald according to the Irish Examiner, who also spoke to marine biologist and head of Dingle Oceanworld Kevin Flannery about the shark saying:
'It is a fully grown adult female porbeagle. She could have died from giving birth. It’s hard to say. It would be early for the shark to give birth but with the weather patterns this year it could be a possibility. I have never seen or heard of one getting washed ashore.'
Flannery also warned against people getting this shark confused with the Great White Shark known as Lydia, who has been tagged by scientists and is currently being tracked as she migrates across the Atlantic and heads towards Ireland, with Flannery adding that.
'The porbeagle does look very like a Great White. People could be thinking that the Great White we have been talking about has landed in Kerry. They are from the same family. I’m sure it gave people a fright especially if they had heard the Great White coming close to Ireland.'
We're going to say that that's a massive understatement Kevin. Massive. 6ft shark-sized massive.
