In an interesting piece of scientific news this week, the Mississippi State Marine Fisheries Ecology program reported that it had been on the site where a 14-foot hammerhead washed ashore in Orange Beach, Alabama. Students in the program traveled from Biloxi, Miss. to Orange Beach to study the species. The mother was pregnant with 40 pups, which you can see above.
The mother and her pups did not survive but it gave the students, and the fisheries community in general in the South, a chance to examine the hammerhead species up close and personal.
“Unfortunately, it is impossible to determine the cause of death with absolute certainty,” reads a post from the school’s department. “We examined, in detail, the shark’s heart, liver, esophagus, stomach, scroll valve, spleen, kidneys, and pancreas, and none of these organs exhibited any signs of trauma. Moreover, there were no abnormal lesions or unusual parasites. We know that great hammerheads are especially prone to the physiological effects of capture stress, more so than most other shark species. Pregnancy compounds this physiological stress. Consequently, we suspect death was the result of fishing mortality.”
The shark will be studied extensively with fin clips being removed for DNA analysis as well vertebrate to determine the shark’s age. The pups will be donated to local schools for study. Hammerheads regularly patrol the Gulf of Mexico eating mostly stingrays.
Orange Beach definitely has a low-key surf scene with plenty of wind swell on offer and the occasional ground swell. There are spots that can definitely go off during hurricane season.
“Although we are saddened by the loss of these individual (sharks),” wrote the school, “we are grateful to the City of Orange Beach Coastal Resources for reaching out to the scientific community and enabling us to study these unique specimens. The samples we took provide an opportunity to enhance our knowledge of great hammerheads in the northern Gulf of Mexico, which is critical for their continued conservation.”
