Records of Sharks from the Eastern Mediterranean Sea

Helmut Nickel, Shark Year Magazine,
30. December 2011

Four recent records of sharks from Turkey and Northern Cyprus.

Specimen No.1:

Date: reported on 14. December 2011.
Location: Saroz, Çanakkale Province, Turkey.
Species: Bluntnose sixgill shark ( Hexanchus griseus ).
Size: said to be 6 metres long, 1100 kg in weight ( judging from the photo, it’s most likely an overestimate ).
The specimen was taken to a fishmonger in Bayındır, Izmir Province.
Source and Photo Credit: Siyah Türk and Gazete Bayindir.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Specimen No. 2:

Date: reported on 22. December 2011.
Location: Famagusta District, Northern Cyprus.
Species: Carcharhinus species, a member of the requiem shark family ( Carcharhinidae ).
Size: said to be 80 kg in weight.
Note: There is a youtube-video which is supposed to show the capture of this specimen (see here).

Source and Photo Credit: Gündem Kibris.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Specimen No. 3 and No. 4:

Date: reported on 27. December 2011.
Location: Şarköy, Tekirdağ Province, Turkey.
Species: Bluntnose sixgill shark ( Hexanchus griseus ).
Size: said to be 3 metres and 1,5 metres in length.
The two sharks were caught on the same fishing trip in the Sea of Marmara.
According to the source, the catch was made about 5 miles off the coast in 150 metres of water.
The sixgill sharks were sold for 550 Turkish lira ( approx. 290 US-Dollar ).
Source and Photo Credit: Deniz Haber.

 

1 Comment

  1. Angel

    Turkish fisfing fleet is one of the largest in those waters. They use multiple tecniques for fishing except the long lines. Luckly they have clean and rocky seas except Marmara and the Black sea. Actually having shark filled seas around them. Luckly almost no shark attacks. I hate to see the sharks being shown on fish shops which actually sells fish to eat. Traditionally shark is not eaten in Turkey. 3 years ago they cought 2 juvanile great whites in the same waters in Edremit. The Egean Sea is a good spot for great whites. The general problem is there are too many off shore fishing vessels without any control sizing from 30 to 50 meters in length that can fish in any kind of sea condition. So they actually catch anything, anywhere, anytime and any weather.What you can read through the papers are less than %1 of their shark catch. They usually throw them back to sea or sell it to fish feed plants. In either case it is not on the news. You only can see it when it is displayed somewhere as a show off.

    Turkey has almost all kinds of sharks except the tropical and arctical ones. In one single dive you can spot up to 4 different shark species in some spesific locaitions. And these are not deep dives about 25-30 meters. It is very sad to see the sharks not in the sea but on the floor.

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