Add The New York Post on Google Nearly 30 dead dogfish sharks mysteriously floated onto the sands of the Jersey Shore Wednesday morning, stunning locals who stumbled upon the disturbing sight.
The graveyard of marine predators popped up along a stretch of beach in Sea Isle City, according to ABC.
“All of a sudden, you start seeing a concentration of small sand sharks, and I thought, ‘Well, this is odd,'” said Michelle Greenling, who saw the creatures scattered across 10 blocks while out walking Wednesday morning.
A spiny dogfish shark is caught and released on a beach. (Khairil – stock.adobe.com) Khairil – stock.adobe.com Experts say the small sharks — between 3 and 5 feet long — swim in schools ranging from hundreds to thousands. The cause of their deaths remains unknown.
“A couple of things it could be,” Stephen Nagiewicz, a marine scientist with Stockton University, told ABC.
“There’s something in the water, and they got sick and died. That’s probably unlikely since people haven’t been affected.”
The dogfish, which typically weigh between 8 and 22 pounds, were most likely caught by fishermen and later dumped back into the ocean, Nagiewicz added.
“They dumped them over the side or lost a net with all the things in there by accident, and all those sharks just floated up on the beach with the tides,” he said.
Dogfish are relatively common along the Jersey Shore and along the eastern coasts of the Americas.
Dozens of sharks washed up on the Jersey Shore Wednesday morning. (6abc Philadelphia) 6abc Philadelphia They migrate north and closer to the shore in the summer and south and offshore in the winter, according to Conserve Wildlife New Jersey.
Because of their abundance, fishermen often call them “junk fish” because they eat bait that targets other species.
But some dogfish populations have declined over the years after becoming accidental by-catch for commercial and recreational fishermen.
The New Jersey Department of Environmental Preservation did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.
