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Moray: Dead 12ft basking shark washed up on Portgordon beach found with plastic in its stomach
A 4.38m juvenile male basking shark was found with a 3cm piece of plastic in its stomach, underscoring pollution threats to this endangered species, Shark and Skate Scotland said.
- Last week, a juvenile male basking shark measuring 4.38m washed up at Portgordon Beach and a necropsy by Shark and Skate Scotland on Saturday found plastic in its stomach with no obvious cause of death.
- Shark and Skate Scotland said plankton-feeding behaviour makes basking sharks prone to ingesting debris, with over-fishing as a global threat and pollution and habitat loss as local impacts.
- Basking sharks are an endangered, second-largest species, growing up to 8.5m, with strandings becoming more common in recent years, including Orkney mass strandings in July 2024 and August 2025.
- SMASS reported the stranding and mobilised trained volunteers to attend, while local resident Peter MacDonald said he was saddened by the dead shark.
- Responders said they took samples that will be analysed to seek a cause, while researchers at the University of Glasgow link strandings to pollution and entanglement, noting decades-long evidence of plastics in marine food webs.
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Watauga Democrat+11 Reposted by 11 other sources
Massive shark found dead on beach had plastic in stomach
A global threat to sharks is overfishing, but localized threats to their survival include habitat loss and pollution.
·Calhoun, United States
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Coverage Details
Total News Sources16
Leaning Left2Leaning Right2Center3Last UpdatedBias Distribution43% Center
Bias Distribution
- 43% of the sources are Center
43% Center
L 29%
C 43%
R 28%
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