100-year-old Greenland shark that washed up on UK beach had brain infection, autopsy finds

An autopsy of the shark that washed up in England last month shows it had a brain infection.

According to a statement from the Zoological Society of London, there is evidence of a disease called Meningitis, an inflammation of the protective membranes that cover the brain and spine. This is the first reported disease-related death in a shark that lives in the deep waters of the North Atlantic.

During the post-mortem examination, the brain looked slightly discoloured and congested and the fluid around the brain was cloudy, raising the possibility of infections.

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Pasteurella, a species of bacteria, was found in the brain fluid of the Greenland shark.

The shark was probably 100 years old when it died. This may sound old, but it is a juvenile female for a Greenland shark. A study published in the journal Science found that sharks can live to be at least 272 years of age.

The shark, which was 13 feet (4 meters) long and weighed over 600 pounds (289 kilograms), was washed out to sea after it was stranded near Newlyn Harbour in Cornwall, in southwest England, on March 13. The U.K.'s second recorded shark stranding to date happened when a recreational boating company recovered the shark's body on March 15.

The necropsy shows that the shark had ventured out of its natural deep-water habitat and ended up stranded.

There were signs that the shark was still alive when it washed up on the beach, and there was silt in its stomach.

Rob Deaville, CSIP project lead, said in the statement that the shark's death gave him insight into the life and death of a species we know little about.

The team plans to publish a study on the postmortem report of a shark.

It was originally published on Live Science.