Submitted by SeaDoc.

Out on the water responding to a call about a harbor seal pup for the Marine Mammal Stranding Network, SeaDoc received an alert that a much different kind of critter had washed up at Jones Island State Park.

It turned out to be a bluntnose sixgill (Hexanchus griseus), a fascinating species of shark that can grow to over 15 feet long and weigh 1,500 pounds, making it one of the world’s largest carnivorous sharks and the Salish Sea’s equivalent of a great white (though thankfully not as bitey, with no known unprovoked attacks on humans). This nine-foot female was dead, but still of great interest to local fish expert Dr. Adam Summers, so SeaDoc staff hauled her aboard their boat, the Molly B., and delivered her to Friday Harbor Labs for a necropsy.

The population of sixgills appears to wax and wane in the Salish Sea, which is believed to be an important pupping ground and habitat for the young of these big-eyed, bottom-hugging sharks that are protected on both sides of the border. SeaDoc will keep the community informed on what Dr. Summers learned.