Super-rare Greenland shark that washed up on UK beach may be at least 100 years old

The shark that washed up on the UK beach could be at least 100 years old.

On March 13, a dead shark was found on the sand in Newlyn Harbour, Cornwall, on the southwest coast of England. The carcass was taken out to sea before experts could examine it, according to the Cornwall Wildlife Trust.

The shark was found floating off the coast of Cornwall on March 15 and brought back to shore. This is the second time in the U.K. that a shark stranding has been recorded.

Even though it is sad when animals strand on the beach, it is a great opportunity for us to study them.

The strangest creatures to wash up on the beach.

The International Union for the Protection of Nature (IUCN) says that the sharks live in the North Atlantic and the Arctic oceans. A study published in the journal Science estimated that these sharks could live at least 272 years, but scientists still have a lot to learn.

The juvenile female shark that washed up in Cornwall was 13 feet long and weighed over 600 pounds. According to a 2016 study, the age of the shark is yet to be determined. Adults can be up to 24 feet (7 m) long, according to the St. Lawrence Shark Observatory.

James Barnett, a veterinary pathologist from the Cornwall Marine Pathology Team, carried out a postmortem of the shark on March 16 for the Cetacean strandings investigation programme.

Barnett told Live Science that it looked like it was live-stranded. Barnett said that the shark was still alive when it washed up.

It is not yet clear why the shark was not eating and ended up in shallow waters off Cornwall. There are a number of reasons why marine animals become stranded and die on beaches, but the movement of ocean currents and other marine conditions also play a part in bringing living and dead animals to shore.

The majority of our strandings are common dolphins and porpoises, and they would have all died within a kilometer of our coastline. She said that the chance of a shark being swept in by the right current and weather conditions is very rare.

Barnett said this is the first time a shark has been given a necropsy in the UK. Rob Deaville, project manager for CSIP at the Zoological Society of London, said in a statement that samples from the shark will help inform research into their life history and diet.

It was originally published on Live Science.