A 20-Foot Long Basking Shark Washed Ashore

            Surfers were astonished as they watched a massive shark being pulled by the waves and washed ashore. The twenty-foot long shark died on the beach of Gilgo State Park in Long Island, New York early Tuesday morning. 

            There were no visible wounds or injuries on the shark. Tracy Marcus of Cornell Cooperative Extension told The Associated Press that perhaps the shark had some type of illness.

Image via Wikipedia

            According to the New York Post, a number of people gathered around the beach and took pictures of the shark with their cell-phone cameras. A frightened girl stands on the shore and stares at the basking shark in dismay. The basking shark, Cetorhinus maximus, is the second largest living shark, after the whale shark. It is a cosmopolitan species found in all the world’s temperate oceans. It is a slow moving and generally harmless filter feeder. This shark is called the basking shark because it is most often observed when feeding at the surface and appears to be basking.

            New York State Parks official George Gorman said researchers would examine the shark to determine the cause of death. After that, the animal will be buried in sand dunes on the beach.