A rare deep-sea shark has washed up on a holiday resort popular with Brits.
The birdbeak dogfish (Deania calcea) had several large chunks of flesh missing from its body, indicating that it probably fell foul of a sea predator.
It was found floating on the sea surface by tour guides on a whale-watching boat, as reported by What’s The Jam.
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The shark, which belongs to the family Centrophoridae, lives at depths of between 240 and 4,757 feet in the Pacific Ocean around Japan, Australasia and Chile, and the Atlantic Ocean from Iceland to South Africa.
Birdbeak dogfish have long, narrow snouts, two long and low dorsal fins with grooved spines, and no anal fin.
They are commonly found near the seabed and they feed on bony fish and shrimp.
The dead shark was found by workers of the Bonadea II – Diomedea tour agency in Costa Adeje in Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, on Saturday (8 March).
A company spokesperson said: “We found this shark of the Deania species floating dead with some bites.
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“There are 85 species of sharks in the Canary Islands.”
Although the shark’s exact cause of death is currently unclear, its wounds indicate that it was probably attacked by a predator.
It is possible that its injuries could have been caused by ‘bottom trawling’, where a large net is dragged along the seabed.
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However, this fishing practice is banned in the Canary Islands due to the damage it can cause to coral reefs.
Marine biologist Belén Caro said the discovery could shed some light on the behaviour patterns of birdbeak dogfish.
She called the discovery “interesting” as “knowledge is limited” about the species due to the depths in which they live.
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