Ben Pawlowski
BEACHGOERS sunning themselves on a popular Mallorca beach were left stunned when the corpse of a huge shark washed up on shore.
Video footage posted on social media by passers-by show the remains of the sea predator lying on Can Pere Antoni beach, a golden stretch of sand in Palma de Mallorca.
According to Shark Med, a charity that supports the conservation of sharks in the western Mediterranean, the creature was a bluntnose sixgill shark, also known as a cow shark, a variation of the species that can grow to a whopping 18 feet in length.
Unfortunately, video footage shows the shark with a severe laceration between its head and trunk.
READ MORE: Swimmers ordered out of the water in shark alert at Mallorca beach
According to experts, the cut was likely the result of an altercation with a fishing crew.
The shark was likely entangled in a fishing net before being killed by a fisherman with an axe.
An estimated 56 different shark species have been recorded around the Balearic Islands, although over 60% are threatened – while 17 are either critically endangered or locally extinct.
Earlier this summer, swimmers were ordered out of the water in Playa de Palma following reports an elderly Italian bather was bitten.
But experts cast doubt on whether the incident was caused by a shark, with no shark bite ever recorded in Mallorca.
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