A female Great Hammerhead Shark, Sphyrna mokarran, was found dead by local residents on Capriva Island in Lee County, Florida, on Saturday June 2019. Recognising that the animal was pregnant fisherman Elliott Sudal cut the Shark open to attempt to save her young, but all 27 babies found inside her were found to be dead. The cause of the Shark's death is being investigated by the University of Miami and the Beneath the Waves organisation; it is understood that she showed no signs of having been caught or entangled in fishing gear, and that there is a possibility that she may have died due to a pregnancy complication.
Fisherman Elliot Sudal with a dead Hammerhead Shark on a Captiva Island beach on Saturday 1 June 2019. NBC2.
Great Hammerheads are found throughout the world's tropical oceans, but their numbers have declined rapidly in recent years due to overfishing for their fins, which are used in Shark's Fin Soup.For this reason they are classified as Endangered under the terms of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's Red List of Threatened Species, and are federally protected in the US, which means individuals targeting the species can face criminal charges with severe consequences.
Fisherman Elliot Sudal with a dead Hammerhead Shark on a Captiva Island beach on Saturday 1 June 2019. NBC2.
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