It’s the tale of the old man-eater and the sea.
Beachcombers in Ireland were taken aback after stumbling across the carcass of an ancient Greenland shark — a massive predator that can live for 500 years.
Hammad Chaudhry and James Winters O’Donnell had been strolling along the shore in Finisklin, County Sligo, when they happened upon the ferocious-looking flotsam, marking the first time the species had been stranded in the Emerald Isle, Jam Press reported.
Initially believed to be a dead basking shark, the nearly 9½-foot fish was reported to the Irish Whale & Dolphin Group. They confirmed the corpse belonged to a Greenland Shark, calling it a “very rare and interesting stranding,” local media reported.
The specimen has since been collected by the Natural History Museum for further examination.
This particular specimen was believed to be 150 years old, with specialists suspecting that, based on its “very developed claspers,” it was close to maturity before becoming stranded.
Despite living longer than any recorded human, this was still just a young pup by species standards.
“The Greenland Shark is the longest living vertebrate in the world with a life span of several centuries; the oldest recorded specimen was over half a millennium in age,” according to a spokesperson for the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group.
One of the world’s largest sharks, this massive sea beast can grow to be over 20 feet long — nearly the length of a U-Haul truck.
While certainly tragic, the stranding has perhaps provided a unique opportunity to glean more insight into the elusive beast, which resides some 7,000 feet down in the frigid waters off the Arctic and North Atlantic.
Characterized by its heavy-set body and short, rounded head with small eyes, the Greenland Shark preys on a variety of critters, including char, wolf eels, small sharks, and on occasion, seals and porpoises, according to the Florida Museum.
However, they don’t pose a threat to people, mainly because their environment is too cold for human swimmers.
Although their flesh is poisonous when fresh, it can be eaten after being fermented underground and dried.
In fact, rotted basking shark, dubbed Hakarl, is a delicacy in Iceland, where it’s both prized and reviled for its pungent, ammonia-rich flesh that has been compared to everything from urine to blue cheese.
