DELAWARE, US: Catching sharks is a risky business, especially if you catch two at the same time.
That’s what happened when students from the University of Delaware tried to recapture sharks they had tagged for scientific research.
Scientists from the university’s Ocean Exploration, Remote Sensing, Biogeography Lab reeled in the large female sand tiger shark only to discover another 3ft long dogfish inside its giant mouth.
A post on the laboratory’s Facebook page said: ‘This unlucky smooth dogfish couldn’t resist the menhaden used as bait and unfortunately fell victim to one of the top predators in the bay.’
The university originally tagged the sharks to gain valuable information about population levels in the ocean.
Now the researchers are asking beachgoers to keep an eye out for the tags and are offering a $100 reward for each one found.
The electronic tags are attached to the base of the shark’s dorsal fin but sometimes fall off and wash ashore or into marshes. –MN