[image:sharkwatchsa]

It looks like the orcas can’t be held responsible for this one.

Back in May great white sharks started washing up dead in the Gansbaai area, and their demise was quickly pinned on killer whales in the area.

You can read those stories HERE, HERE and HERE – the last of those taking place in June thanks to a pair of orca nicknamed Port and Starboard, due to the slanting of their dorsal fins.

On Saturday another great white was found dead and towed ashore, with this below via Traveller24:

“The shark was reported to the South African Shark Conservancy by Ichthyologist, Sarah Halse, from the Breede area,” says Marine Dynamics, adding that on Sunday, 26 November, Dyer Island Conservation Trust’s (DICT) white shark biologist, Alison Towner, “retrieved the shark and brought it back to DICT’s Kleinbaai facility”…

According to Towner the shark was not attacked by an orca because there are no obvious signs of orca bites and the shark still has its liver intact. In all previous cases of orca attacks, the sharks’ livers were removed with “almost surgical precision”, while the rest of the animal remained intact.

So if it wasn’t an orca going after that tasty liver, what caused the juvenile 2,8 metre female to die?

“The shark does have a fresh hook with steel trace lodged in her jaw and a gaff mark on the upper caudal lobe,” says Towner.

Towner adds that they suspect this is similar to a recent Mossel Bay white shark mortality, and that this shark “likely fought with an angler resulting in her death.” Great white sharks cannot swim backwards in the water…

“Her head was removed on the Sunday morning post mortem but luckily the team at Infanta were able to retrieve it. The shark had no tag but she may be recognised by researchers using photographs of her dorsal fin and tail patterns,” says Marine Dynamics.

Let’s just hope that the great white population manages to recover from losses like these, because these beautiful creatures deserve better than dying at the hands of an angler.

In other underwater news – if you’re not watching Blue Planet 2 you really are missing out:

[source:traveller24]