Elleda Wilson: A learning experience
Sep. 8—"Staff from the Seaside Aquarium were alerted on Sept. 2 of another large thresher shark washing in on the Long Beach Peninsula by Ocean Park, Washington," Tiffany Boothe of the Seaside Aquarium wrote. Boothe took the photo above.
"The shark was still alive when staff arrived," she explained, "but died shortly after. ... Volunteers and staff were able to recover the shark, which weighed anywhere from 300 to 365 pounds ... (and) was too big to freeze. So, a necropsy was scheduled ...
"We really wanted this to be a learning experience for people. It is not very often that we get to see these large sharks, and anything we can learn, or educate the public on, is a great opportunity ... (The necropsy) ended up having an audience of about 50-75 people.
"... Most people were fascinated by the length of the shark's tail, which it is named after. The thresher shark uses its long tail to 'thrash' through schools of fish, stunning them, then swimming back through and eating the stunned fish.
"So, why are these sharks washing in? That is the million-dollar question, and that is why it is important to be able to collect data and various tissue and organ samples. The one thing we were able to rule out was any fisheries interaction."
