15-foot great white shark washes up on Florida beach
Photo courtesy: Navarre Beach Sea Turtle Conservation Center
PENSACOLA BEACH, Fla. - A massive female great white shark washed up dead on a Florida panhandle beach over the weekend, according to conservation officials.
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On Friday, Navarre Beach Fire Rescue officials helped with the removal of a 13 to 15-foot deceased great white shark in Pensacola Beach.
Authorities initially believed it was a pregnant female, but according to the Navarre Beach Sea Turtle Conservation Center, it was was actually still immature. They believe she was around 30 years old and on the cusp of maturity.
The shark weighed an estimated 1,500 pounds. Authorities collected data and samples to send for a full pathology workup to help determine the cause of death, however, a fishing hook was found embedded in her jaw; leaving post-release mortality as a possibility.
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Michelle Passerotti, a research biologist with the NOAA Fisheries Apex Predators, said that the silver lining to the shark's death is the ability to study the massive animal more closely.
"These types of strandings, while sad, are an incredible opportunity for research in species that we rarely have an opportunity to study so thoroughly," Passerotti said through a Facebook post.