A century-old shark has died from meningitis, a post mortem has found.
Gatekeepers News reports that the incredibly rare Greenland shark, with the species able to live to more than 400 years old was found washed up on a Cornish beach.
This means Marine biologists can consider the female found just outside Newlyn Harbour in mid-March as “juvenile”.
There is very little information about the species, which usually live more than 2.5km below the surface of the Arctic and North Atlantic oceans. Meanwhile, the autopsy is the first of its kind undertaken in the UK.
It was just the second Greenland shark to be recovered from UK waters.
According to reports, the shark which measured 3.96m long, had damage to her fins and silt in her stomach, which suggested she may have been alive when she stranded.
Although it is the first report of meningitis in the species, scientists said it is too early to link the disease to man-made stressors in the environment, such as ocean pollution.
The post-mortem was conducted by the Cornwall Marine Pathology Team, which is part of the Zoological Society of London’s (ZSL) Cetacean Strandings Investigation Programme (CSIP).
Veterinary pathologist James Barnett, of the Cornwall Marine Pathology Team, said the brain was “discoloured and congested”, while the fluid around the brain was cloudy.
Barnett said, “The shark’s body was in poor condition and there were signs of haemorrhage within the soft tissue around the pectoral fins which, coupled with the silt found in her stomach, suggested she may well have lived stranded.
“As far as we’re aware, this is one of the first post-mortem examinations here in the UK of a Greenland shark and the first account of meningitis in this species.”
