8-foot shark found stranded on Cape Cod beach days before July Fourth weekend

A large shark was found stranded on a popular Cape Cod beach — just days before the busy July Fourth weekend.

The Atlantic White Shark Conservancy reported the find Thursday in a Facebook post, noting the shark mysteriously appeared at First Encounter Beach in Eastham, Massachusetts. That’s near Cape Cod National Seashore Salt Pond.

“Unfortunately, the 8 (foot) porbeagle shark was not alive when responders arrived,” the conservancy wrote.

“The AWSC team moved the shark above the high water mark so that scientists from the NOAA Fisheries Service Apex Predator Program can retrieve it to conduct a necropsy.”

Conservancy officials did not speculate on a cause of death, and a photo with the post did not show prominent wounds.

Shark researcher James Sulikowski told McClatchy News a porbeagle shark that big would likely be more than 15 years old. “It’s very odd,” he said of the discovery.

Porbeagles are a “moderately large shark,” that can grow to 11.5 feet and 300 pounds, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The species is prone to linger on the continental shelf, near the coastline, the service reports.

“Because of their size, porbeagle sharks do not have any known natural predators,” OCEANA.org says.

Cape Cod is expecting huge crowds this Fourth of July weekend, especially now that COVID protocols have been relaxed.

There have been multiple reports of dead sharks washing up on Cape Cod beaches in recent years. In 2019, a 6-foot porbeagle was found a half mile north of Marconi Beach on Cape Cod. And in 2018, a 9-foot great white shark appeared along the Pamet River in the Truro area, the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy reported.

An examination of that shark’s stomach contents revealed 3 lead weights inside, though that was not cited as a cause of death.

The shark research agency OCEARCH is currently tracking three great white sharks in waters south of Cape Cod, including one that is 11 feet long and weighs nearly 900 pounds.

This story was originally published July 1, 2021 at 4:05 PM with the headline "8-foot shark found stranded on Cape Cod beach days before July Fourth weekend."