7-Foot Shark Washes Up On Narragansett Beach

NARRAGANSETT, RI — Experts aren't sure why a 7-foot female sand tiger shark washed ashore at Salty Brine State Beach in Narragansett Tuesday.

The shark, who had "no obvious cause of death," was removed from the beach by the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management's Division of Marine Fisheries, DEM officials told Patch Wednesday.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration performed a necropsy with assistance from the Atlantic Shark Institute, according to officials.

Sand tiger sharks are critically endangered and have a decreasing population, so "each one is really important for researchers to gain information," experts with the Atlantic Shark Institute said in June after a shark washed up on a beach in Little Compton.

The species, which can grow to be as many as 10.5 feet long and weigh 350 pounds, "lives worldwide near the seafloor in surf zones, shallow bays and coral and rocky reefs," according to OCEANA.

The organization added that "overfishing, paired with the sand tiger shark's extremely low reproductive rate, has led to the species being listed as vulnerable to extinction."

Patch reached out to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for more information.