{"id":237721,"date":"2025-10-24T14:12:15","date_gmt":"2025-10-24T14:12:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/237721\/"},"modified":"2025-10-24T14:12:15","modified_gmt":"2025-10-24T14:12:15","slug":"walkers-find-shark-washed-up-on-caithness-shore","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/237721\/","title":{"rendered":"Walkers find shark washed up on Caithness shore"},"content":{"rendered":"

The body of a shark has been found washed up on a rocky Caithness shoreline by a couple who were out for their daily morning walk.<\/p>\n

Annemarie Simpson and her partner Kev Stewart, who live in Papigoe, made the discovery on Wednesday near Wick.<\/p>\n

The shark is almost two metres (6ft) long, and Ms Simpson said she believed it to be a porbeagle – a species found in UK waters.<\/p>\n

Ms Simpson told BBC Scotland News online that it was an exciting and interesting find, but added: “I much prefer seeing them alive where they belong.”<\/p>\n

Porbeagles are members of the shark family Lamnidae making it a close relative of the great white shark, according to the Wildlife Trusts<\/a>.<\/p>\n

They are listed as an internationally vulnerable species and prey on mackerel, herring and squid.<\/p>\n

The couple’s discovery was first reported in the John O’Groats Journal and Caithness Courier<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Some have speculated the shark was a casualty of Storm Amy<\/a>, which hit Scotland with damaging high winds earlier this month, or had been injured in an attack by dolphins.<\/p>\n

A porbeagle was previously found at Reiss, near Wick, in December 2016.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

[BBC]<\/p>\n

Ms Simpson, a social care worker, said: “It’s not uncommon to find a porpoise or a Risso’s dolphin on the shore in Caithness, but a porbeagle shark, although known in our waters, is definitely a much rarer find onshore.”<\/p>\n

She said the shark’s fin first caught her attention.<\/p>\n

Along with Mr Stewart, a military veteran who is now training to be an Army chaplain, she headed down to the shoreline for a closer look.<\/p>\n

“It’s an interesting find,” said Ms Simpson.<\/p>\n

“In Caithness we love our nature.”<\/p>\n

At least 21 shark species live in British waters all year round but there are also seasonal visitors, including basking sharks, according to the Shark Trust<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The body of a shark has been found washed up on a rocky Caithness shoreline by a couple…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":237722,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[142325,64,63,142327,142328,142329,142326,142324,128,338],"class_list":{"0":"post-237721","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-annemarie-simpson","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-bbc-scotland-news","12":"tag-caithness","13":"tag-kev-stewart","14":"tag-ms-simpson","15":"tag-porbeagle","16":"tag-science","17":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237721","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=237721"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237721\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/237722"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=237721"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=237721"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=237721"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}