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An enormousgreat white sharkrecently killed on a drumline in Queensland , Australia , will be used to help oneself researchers notice more about the species . The gigantic female was only slenderly small than the largest capital whiteness ever caught .
The 18.4 - fundament - retentive ( 5.6 meters ) female white shark ( Carcharodon carcharias ) was find out stagnant by the Queensland Shark Control Program at Tannum Sands , off the Queensland sea-coast , on Aug. 10 . She was pregnant with four pup when she died .
A 18.4-foot-long great white shark (not pictured) was caught on a drumline in Queensland in August.
" This is the great white shark get in the Queensland Shark Control Program since its beginning in 1962,“Tracey Scott - Holland , a spokespersonfor theQueensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheriestold Live Science in an email .
Reliable , verified records of large white shark are lacking , and many diachronic record of behemoth sharks over 21 feet turned out to be exaggerations . Thebiggest white shark with a authentic measurementwas catch off the coast of Massachusetts and measured 19.9 foot ( 6 m ) .
Adrumlineis a fishing method that uses a tease hook that ’s seize to a buoy and float , with a chain ground it to the seafloor . TheQueensland Shark Control Programuses drumlines to reduce the risk of exposure of shark bites . If a bull , Panthera tigris or great white shark — or otherspeciesassociated with wanton bite — is caught in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park , it is mark , relocate and released as long as it is possible and secure to do so . Those caught outside the Marine Park are euthanized .
In Queensland , the authorities have been trialingcatch alert drumlines , which direct a planet alert to a reception team when a shark is caught so they can quickly label and release the brute . But in the case of the pregnant great clean shark , the team did n’t get to her in sentence .
" It is a disgrace to misplace a big , procreative animal like that,“Bob Hueter , shark expert and chief scientist at OCEARCH , told Live Science in an e-mail . " Normally , the workers are able-bodied to get out to the catch shark within a half - minute or so to tag and bring out the fauna . "
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As solar apex piranha , sharks keep the sea ’s food web balanced and healthy , so a decline in their population has a knock - on encroachment on many other brute . Globally , a third of sharks , rays and chimaeras arethreatened with defunctness .
corking white sharks are listed as vulnerable on theIUCN Red List of Threatened Speciesand face threats include overfishing and being caught as bycatch . The eastern Australasian population has around750breeding adult left .
White shark reach sexual matureness at around20 or 30years old and conduct betweentwo and 17pups every two or three years . This slow replication makes it hard for the metal money to recover from threat .
The untimely death of a breeding female person can have a significant impact on the local population . " Losing this very tumid , pregnant female person along with her four pups is a reversal for the [ population ’s ] genetic variety and rebuilding capability , " Hueter said .
Leonardo Guida , shark conservation steer at the Australian Marine Conservation Society , distinguish Live Science in an email that " a motley wave of awe and sadness washed over [ him ] " when he get a line the news .
base on her sizing , " It ’s plausible she was born in the previous 90s , when white sharks first became a protect mintage in Australia , " he articulate .
But this loss could help scientist see more about the species . " Samples were taken for enquiry purposes , and we are collaborating with researchers from New South Wales and South Australia on several projects , " Scott - Holland said . The shark ’s trunk will be used to help research worker find out more about the species ' biota , genetics and populations .
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Hueter — who is not necessitate in the analytic thinking — is excited by what could be chance upon . " Because it is exceedingly rarified to be able to examine a pregnant blank shark anywhere in the world , this particular shark could be very valuable for white shark science , " he allege .
analyze samples from a all in shark can provide datum on the animal ’s eating habits , contaminants in its urine and more .
" We ’re not even certain how long gestation take in this metal money , and how often the female get pregnant , so examination of this ' mega mummy ' could help make full in some decisive gaps in our knowledge , " Hueter aver .
