NOAA Investigated Beached 28-Foot Basking Shark

Reported and written by Ellyn Santiago.

A common shark albeit not one folks usually encounter, the 28 1/2 foot basking shark that washed up on the Misquamicut shore in Westerly Sunday was a male, age unknown, according to NOAA Northeast Fisheries Science Center research communications chief Teri Frady.

"They are common in our waters. (Beaching) does happen. We don't know why (it died) nor do we know the age, but we know it was a male," Frady said. NOAA scientists took samples and measurements from the shark Sunday.

Contrary to other reports, the Mystic Aquarium did not remove the shark nor was it set to perform a necropsy, spokesperson Erin Merz said, although staff did visit the site Sunday to collect data.

Frady said the fish, the second largest after the whale shark, can grow as long as 40 feet. The creature eats plankton, is slow moving and not aggressive. In some locations it is overfished, but Frady said it is not endangered.

Frady said the fish was not removed by NOAA and would not be; nature will take its course, she said. 

"Or local authorities can bury it," she said.