Giant shark met its end on Danish beach

A Greenland shark, potentially dangerous to humans, was found 28 December on a beach in Ålbæk in the north of Jutland. This is according to a press release from the Zoological Museum.

The 140 kg beast from the deep is 280 cm long and has already been taken to the Zoological Museum of the University of Copenhagen, where it is to be preserved. It can be viewed 12 -27 February, the Zoological Museum says.

The Greenland shark is the largest shark that is to be found in Danish waters and has been known to reach sizes of seven to eight metres and more than 1,000 kilograms. It is the world’s next largest meat-eating shark, and potentially dangerous to humans, the museum writes.

Normally too deep for bathers

Peter Rask Møller from the Zoologisk Museum emphasises that you need not fear taking a dip however.

»Greenland sharks normally live in such deep water (mostly 200-600 m), that they don’t go anywhere near bathing guests, and they are only numerous in the Arctic parts of the North Atlantic, he says.

Responding to a query from the University Post, Carl Henrik, a biologist from the Zoological Museum, re-assures Copenhagen-based readers even further.

Strangled by fishing equipment

»It has come into the Skagerak waters, via a 500 metre deep trench: It is unlikely that it would ever venture into the Øresund, past the islands, or into the less saline Baltic,« he says.

The shark has most likely been caught in a fishing trawler net, or in other equipment, where it has been strangled, and then floated in to the shore,« he explains.

miy@adm.ku.dk

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