Protected shark stabbed 3 times and left for dead on Massachusetts beach, biologist says

A sand tiger shark — an aquatic predator that is critically endangered in some parts of the world — was found stabbed and left for dead on a Massachusetts beach, a biologist shared.

John Chisholm, a scientist with the New England Aquarium, shared a photo of the shark on X, formerly Twitter, on June 22. The photo showed the young shark on a beach in Marshfield with at least three stab wounds.

A woman pushed the shark back into the water, Chisholm told The Boston Globe, but he said “it’s pretty unlikely that it survived.”

It’s believed the shark was caught and stabbed by a fisherman, who mistook it for dogfish, the biologist said in an interview with the Boston Herald.

The dogfish, Chisholm went on to say, “is thought of as a nuisance fish that overwhelm a fishing spot, so they kill them.”

It comes at the expense of the sand tiger shark, which shares some physical similarities with the dogfish. But sand tigers “have very noticeable long thin teeth while smooth dogfish do not,” according to the New England Aquarium.

The aquarium described sand tigers as being grayish brown in appearance with two dorsal fins of equal size.

Once among the most common shark species in parts of New England, the sand tiger population has declined “rapidly,” the aquarium said.

The population decline has also been apparent in other parts of the world. The species has been listed as vulnerable globally by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, according to the National Aquarium.

“The sand tiger shark has one of the lowest known reproductive rates among sharks, giving birth to only one or two large pups every two to three years,” according to the National Aquarium. “As a result, their population growth and recovery from overfishing are slow.”

The population of the species is estimated to have declined more than 80% worldwide in the last 74 years, PBS reported.

In Massachusetts, the species has been classified on the state’s prohibited species list, meaning it is prohibited from being harvested.

The dogfish, however, is not prohibited and is legal for recreational fishing.

“In the early days it was a case of mistaken identity, but that was 20 years ago,” Chisholm told the Globe of the two species. “People should know the laws have been changed.”