Noteworthy Recent Shark Records From Mediterranean And Adjacent Waters

Helmut Nickel, Shark Year Magazine,
26. March 2013

The following list provides a supplement and continuation of our previous post from 06. January 2013 Notes on Sharks recently recorded from the Mediterranean and European Region.

Twenty-nine notable recent shark records from Mediterranean and adjacent waters
( reported from 06. January 2013 to 25. March 2013 ).

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Details on each specimen in descending chronological order :

Specimen No. 01

Date: reported on 25. March 2013.

Location: Yalova Province, Turkey.

Species: Bluntnose sixgill shark ( Hexanchus griseus ).

Size: said to be 3,5 metres in length and 600 kg in weight.

A record from the Sea of Marmara.
The sixgill shark was caught by anchovy fishermen in the waters off Armutlu.

Source and Photo Credit: habergazete.

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Specimen No. 02

Date: reported on 24. March 2013.

Location: Algeria.

Species: Basking shark, male ( Cetorhinus maximus ).

Size: said to be 5,6 metres in length and 830 kg in weight.

This male basking shark was caught in a fishing net near Pointe Rouge, about 23 km west of Ténès in Algeria.
Unfortunately, the source does not mention when the catch occurred.
Please see the video of the specimen HERE.

Source / Photo: Youtube (lourpirata)

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Specimen No. 03

Date: reported on 23. March 2013.

Location: Lybia.

Species: Shortfin mako shark ( Isurus oxyrinchus ).

Size: not reported.

The source does not provide much information on this specimen.
The photo was allegedly taken at a local market (or marina ?) on Friday March 22nd .

Source and Photo: facebook.

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Specimen No. 04

Date: reported on 15. March 2013.

Location: Morocco.

Species: Basking shark ( Cetorhinus maximus ).

Size: said to be over a ton in weight.

This basking shark was brought to shore on Tifnit beach, which is located south of Agadir in Morocco.
The fisherman had to rent a tractor to bring his catch to the market.

Source and Photo Credit: Chtouka Press.

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Specimen No. 05

Date: 13. March 2013.

Location: Gaza Strip.

Species: Mako shark ( Isurus species ).

Size: said to be 3 metres in length.

A record from the far eastern Mediterranean Sea.
The large mako was brought to shore by Gaza fishermen and sold for 20 Shekels (ca. 5.44 US-Dollar)
per kilo at the Khan Younis fish market.
A little over one year ago, we reported on another large mako shark that had been caught in
neighboring waters (off northern Israel).Please see Specimen No. 1 in our related post HERE.

Source and Photo Credit: Maan News.

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Specimen No. 06

Date: reported on 13. March 2013

Location: Hatay Province, Turkey.

Species: Bigeye thresher shark ( Alopias superciliosus ).

Size: said to be 2 metres in length and 110 kg in weight.

The shark was caught by a fisherman from Yeşilköy in Hatay Province,
which is located in the far south-east of Turkey ( adjacent to Syria ).

Source and Photo Credit: Aktif Haber.

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Specimen No. 07

Date: 06. March 2013.

Location: Dakhla, Western Sahara.

Species: Basking shark ( Cetorhinus maximus ).

Size: said to be 4 metres in length, 500 kg.

A record from the north African Atlantic coast.
It is one of two non-Mediterranean specimens in this list of records.
The basking shark was found dead in the Dakhla Bay.
The source presumes that the shark had been discarded as bycatch
by one of the European RSW vessels, operating off Dakhla.

Source and Photo Credit: Marcobleu.

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Specimen No. 08 – 09

Date: reported on 09. March 2013

Location: Tekirdağ Province, Turkey.

Species: two bluntnose sixgill sharks ( Hexanchus griseus ).

Size: said to be 230 and 300 kg in weight.

These two sixgillers were caught by commercial fisherman in the Sea of Marmara,
and later landed at the port of Hoşköy in Tekirdağ Province.
The source is reporting that shark catches have increased in this region recently.
The fishermen complain that the large sharks destroy their nets and
that they don’t get enough money for them to compensate their damages.

Source and Photo Credit: inegöl haber.

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Specimen No. 10

Date: reported on 06. March 2013

Location: Algeria.

Species: Bluntnose sixgill shark ( Hexanchus griseus ).

Size: not reported ( Quote: a huge fish )

The specimen got entangled in a fishing net off El Kala, a seaport in El Tarf Province ( Algeria ).

Source and Photo: Facebook

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Specimen No. 11

Date: reported on 03.March 2013

Location: Turkey.

Species: Thresher shark (Alopias vulpinus).

Size: said to be 4.5 metres in length, ca. 370-380 kg.

A record from the Sea of Marmara. Fishermen caught this large specimen in their fishing net off Marmara Ereğlisi. The photo was taken at a fishmonger’s shop in Sarıyer, the northernmost district of Istanbul.

Source and Photo Credit: haber7

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Specimen No. 12

Date: 02. March 2013

Location: Province of Lecce, Apulia Region, Italy.

Species: Basking shark ( Cetorhinus maximus ).

Size: said to be 8 metres in length.

The specimen became entangled in a fishing net near Porto Cesareo.
It was still alive and released by the fishermen.

Source: unigalatina.it/ Photo Credit: Antonio Terlizzi.

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Specimen No. 13

Date: reported on 26. February 2013

Location: Tekirdag Port, Turkey.

Species: Bluntnose sixgill shark ( Hexanchus griseus ).

Size: said to be 3 metres in length and 350 kg in weight (most likely an overestimate) .

A record from the Sea of Marmara.
The shark was caught by a fisherman while fishing for horse mackerels.

Source and Photo Credit: Deniz Haber.

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Specimen No. 14

Date: reported on 25. February 2013

Location: Turkey.

Species: Bigeye thresher shark ( Alopias superciliosus )

Size: said to be 3,70 metres in length and 250 kg in weight.

The catch occurred in the Sea of Marmara.
Later, the bigeye thresher was displayed by a fishmonger in the city of Ankara

Source and Photo Credit: Milliyet.

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Specimen No. 15

Date: reported on 21. February 2013

Location: Turkey.

Species: Carcharhinus sp.

Size: said to be 2,10 metres in length and 118 kg in weight.

The source claims that this specimen was caught in the waters of the Black Sea.
The photo below was taken at a market in the city of Elazığ, Eastern Anatolia.

Source and Photo Credit: Posta.

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Specimen No. 16

Date: reported on 21. February 2013

Location: Turkey.

Species: Bluntnose sixgill shark ( Hexanchus griseis ).

Size: said to be 350 kg in weight.

A record from the Aegean Sea.
The sixgiller was caught in the waters off Cesme, located 85 km west of Izmir.

Source and Photo Credit: Haberler.

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Specimen No. 17

Date: reported on 19. February 2013

Location: Sardinia Island, Italy.

Species: Bluntnose sixgill shark ( Hexanchus griseus ).

Size: said to be over 3 metres in length and 500 kg in weight.

The catch of this specimen took place in the waters off Buggerru (in a depth of 150 m).
This location is situated on the west coast of Sardinia Island.

Source and Photo Credit: Unione Sarda.

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Specimen No. 18

Date: 18. February 2013

Location: Mersin Province, Turkey.

Species: Bluntnose sixgill shark ( Hexanchus griseus ).

Size: said to be 5 metres in length and 900 kg in weight.

The sixgill shark was caught by a commercial fisherman near Anamur,
situated on Turkey’s southern Mediterranean coast.

Source and Photo Credit: Haber GO.

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Specimen No. 19

Date: reported on 04. February 2013

Location: Turkey.

Species: Bluntnose sixgill shark ( Hexanchus griseus ).

Size: estimated to be 1000 kg in weight.

The catch was made by Turkish fishermen in the Gulf of Saros.
It’s an inlet of the northern Aegean Sea, located north of the Gallipoli Peninsula in northwestern Turkey.
The giant sixgiller got entangled in a fishing net off the Greek island of Samothrace.

Source and Photo Credit: Habera

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Specimen No. 20

Date: 01. February 2013

Location: Mola, Italy.

Species: Bluntnose sixgill shark ( Hexanchus griseus ).

Size: not reported ( photo below ).

A record from the southern Adriatic Sea.
Commercial fishermen landed this small sixgill shark in Mola di Bari.

Source and Photo Credit: La Vipera

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Specimen No. 21

Date: reported on 01. February 2013.

Location: Croatia.

Species: Basking shark ( Cetorhinus maximus ).

Size: said to be 8 metres in length (other source: 7 m ).

Two fishermen from Senj, situated on the upper Adriatic coast, found the shark entangled in their net.
The small ( six metres long ) boat almost capsized as they towed the basking shark to shore.

Source and Photo Credit: Kip.

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Specimen No. 22

Date: reported on 29. January 2013

Location: Greece.

Species: Bluntnose sixgill shark ( Hexanchus griseus ).

Size: not reported.

According to the source, the catch of this specimen took place in the Thracian Sea
which forms the northernmost part of the Aegean Sea.
It was sold by a fishmonger in the city of Alexandroupolis for 12-13 Euro per kilo.

Source and Photo Credit: Evros24.

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Specimen No. 23

Date: 29. January 2013

Location: Albania.

Species: Bluntnose sixgill shark ( Hexanchus griseus ).

Size: said to be 4 metres in length and 350 kg in weight.

A record from the Adriatic Sea.
A commercial fisherman made this catch in 150 meters deep waters,
1.5 miles from the Sazan Island and 5 miles from Vlore Bay.
The same Albanian fisherman had also caught the sixgill shark Specimen No. 14
that is listed in our previously published post on recent Mediterranean shark records
( see Specimen No.14 HERE ).

Source: top-channel.tv.

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Specimen No. 24

Date: reported on 25. January 2013.

Location: Mallorca, Spain,

Species: Sixgill shark ( Hexanchus sp. )

Size: said to be 1,50 metres in length.

A record from the Balearic Islands.
The dead sixgill shark was found on the beach of  Port d’Andratx in the south-west of Mallorca.
It had obviously died several days earlier. The local police removed the cadaver.

Source: MallorcaMagazin. Photo: Michels.

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Specimen No. 25

Date: reported on 21. January 2013.

Location: Mola di Bari, Italy.

Species: Basking shark ( Cetorhinus maximus ).

Size: said to be 7 metres in length.

A record from the southern Adriatic Sea.
The basking shark was caught by a trawler in the waters off Mola di Bari.
The source (Faxonline) is reporting that the fishermen released the shark alive later.
But it is quite possible that the specimen did not survive for very long after its release.
Because according to the organisation ‘Operazione Squalo Elefante’,
the carcass of a similar sized basking shark washed ashore in Mola last January (see HERE).
Unfortunately, ‘Operazione Squalo Elefante’ does not provide an exact date of this incident.
According to Faxonline, the release of the basking shark occurred on either January 19th or 20th .
So it would be interesting to know if the stranded (dead) specimen was discovered before or shortly after that date.

Source: Faxonline.

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Specimen No. 26

Date: 10. January 2013.

Location: Montenegro.

Species: Bluntnose sixgill shark ( Hexanchus griseus ).

Size: said to be over 4 metres long and 500 kg in weight.

Another record from the Adriatic Sea.
The catch of this specimen occurred in the waters near Mamula
at the entrance of the Bay of Kotor in southwestern Montenegro.

Source and Photo: Vesti-online.

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Specimen No. 27

Date: reported on 09. January 2013.

Location: Turkey.

Species: Carcharhinus sp.

Size: said to be 1,50 metres in length and 110 kg in weight.

The shark was offered for sale at the bazaar in Batman, a city in the southeastern Anatolia Region of Turkey.
The source does not mention the origin (place of catch) of this specimen.

Source and Photo Credit: Batman Postasi Gazetesi.

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Specimen No. 28

Date: reported on 08. January 2013.

Location: Silivri, Turkey.

Species: Thresher shark, male ( Alopias vulpinus ).

Size: said to be 5metres in length and 315 kg in weight.

This male thresher shark was caught by fishermen who were targeting anchovies in the northern Sea of Marmara.

Source: stargundem. Photo: SHA.

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Specimen No. 29

Date: reported on 06. January 2013

Location: Turkey.

Species: Thresher shark, male ( Alopias vulpinus ).

Size: said to be 5,20 metres in length and 237 kg in weight.

The photo was taken in front of a fishmonger’s shop in the Anatolian city of Malatya,
where the thresher shark was sold for 10 Turkish Lira ( ca. 5,5 US-Dollar ) per kilo.
The source does not provide any details about the exact place of catch ( only ‘ from the Mediterranean Sea’ ).

Source and Photo Credit: Malatya Nethaber.

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1 Comment

  1. JamesC

    An interesting summary.
    The sixgill appears to remain fairly abundant. Shame this cannot be said for most other species.
    Re specimen 12, good to hear the basking shark was released – hope that one survived!

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