Surfing the Digital Wave: Sixgill Pregnant Shark Found Dead In B.C.

"The bluntnose sixgill shark, Hexanchus griseus, often simply called the cow shark, is the largest hexanchoid shark, growing to more than 5.4 m (18 ft) in length."

A logger named Ron found a very large shark believed to be a Bluntnose Sixgill Shark in the Albernie Inlet of British Columbia February 10th, 2011. The shark was just floating and was way too heavy for the logger to lift out of the water. The shark was found to be 14ft and approximately 800 to 1000lbs. This was a female and carrying about 30 pups in her womb. The Department of Fisheries and Ocean (DFO) stated they have never seen such a specimen in their hands.

"This species typically inhabits depths greater than 90 m (300 ft), and has been recorded as deep as 1,875 m (6,150 ft). Like many deep-sea creatures, the bluntnose sixgill shark is known to undertake nightly vertical migrations (travelling surfaceward at night, returning to the depths before dawn).
The bluntnose sixgill shark can be seen at depths of 30 m (100 ft) and shallower during parts of the year in some specific places e.g. Flora Islet, near Hornby Island, Sightings during shallow evening dives in Whytecliff Park West Vancouver in British Columbia, in Puget Sound^[1], Monterey Canyon off Monterey, California and in fjords in Norway. The sharks are deepsea sharks, but like most fish that prefer the deep, they come to the shallower depths to feed." Wikipedia for Sixgill Shark

Jaim McKinnon said " it had died and was found around Coulsons Mill near the beach". "A log Salvage guy named Ron found the shark half floating near the mill on the Inlet so he brought it over to us so we could lift her right out! All 800-1000lbs of her and she had around 30 Shark Pups inside of her! Five of her pups fell out."

The sexual maturity of the bluntnose sixgill female shark is between the ages of 18 to 35 years. Scientist do not know a lot about this shark's mating and gestation period which is believed to be longer than 2 years. Their litter sizes can range from 22 to 108 pups.

Death is unknown and the body was seen by a local being dumped into the Albernie Dump later this day.