CARLSBAD, Calif. (KGTV) - A juvenile shark washed up on a Carlsbad beach Sunday morning with what appeared to be injuries near its mouth.
A 10News viewer said she and her family were setting up for a day at Carlsbad State Beach when they saw the shark out of the water and along the shore.
According to the viewer, the deceased shark was about six feet long and had a sizable wound near its mouth that could have been caused by a fishing gaff or hook.
Chris Lowe with the CSULB Shark Lab said it's a roughly two year-old white shark, and will be necropsied by California State Fish and Wildlife. Currently the shark is at the Cal State Long Beach Shark Lab. Dr. Lowe says it has multiple wounds near its mouth and gills.
Mike Price, Curator of Fishes for Sea World, said it's highly unusual to see a shark wash up on shore as they are negatively bouyant, meaning they typically sink when they die, unlike whales and other mammals with significant blubber, which causes them to float before eventually sinking.
The shark sighting comes as after two juvenile white sharks were spotted in the water off the coast of Coronado in late June.
About a month before, an advisory was issued after a shark was seen near Black’s Beach.
While those sharks did not come close to humans, a 13-year-old boy was bitten in a shark attack off Encinitas last September.
Some researchers believe water temperatures and a predatory food chain reaction caused by weather conditions has led to more shark sightings -- and some attacks on humans -- in recent months off the U.S. coasts.
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-- Researchers: Weather could help predict shark attacks
-- Shark advisory issued after sightings near Black's Beach
