(AP) — A 20-foot-long basking shark that washed ashore and died on a Long Island beach.
Tracy Marcus of Cornell Cooperative Extension says the shark likely died from some kind of illness. There are no propeller wounds that might have come from a boat, nor are there any puncture wounds on the animal, which was barely breathing when it was first found.
The basking shark, which are a common sight in the waters off Long Island, washed ashore on a town beach a few miles east of Jones Beach. Basking sharks are not considered dangerous. They eat plankton.
Marcus estimates the shark weighs about a ton. She says it is unusual for an ailing basking shark to come ashore. Usually they die in the ocean.
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.