Long Island Beaching

Posted by: Loren Coleman on July 14th, 2009

A 24-foot shark washed ashore on a Long Island beach today, but died a short time later, police said.

It’s unclear how the basking shark died or how it found its way to Gilgo State Park near Babylon in Suffolk County. A necropsy will be performed soon.

Basking sharks are the second largest shark in the sea after the whale shark and are not a threat to humans. Victoria Cavaliere, NBC New York

Loren Coleman About Loren Coleman
Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct). Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015. Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.


9 Responses to “Long Island Beaching”

  1. Squiver responds:

    It’s not the first time I’ve heard of strange marine life in places that they shouldn’t be but then again… a basking shark in Long Island is truly a stretch. It seems unlikely it could have rounded a whole continent… perhaps it escaped from activity? I’m not sure what private collector might have the room for a basking shark but I suppose it’s possible.

  2. Fhqwhgads responds:

    She should have said, “A 24-foot shark washed ashore on a Long Island beach today, and died a short time later.” When a critter like that washes ashore, it’s pretty much a goner.

    But basking sharks are not confined to the Pacific; there’s nothing particularly strange about one being off the Long Island coast, particularly in summer when the water’s warm.

  3. proriter responds:

    No, that’s the proper latitude for a basking shark.

  4. cryptidsrus responds:

    Pardon my bluntness, but what the Heck is happening to sea life worldwide??? Sharks, Whales, etc. “beaching” all over the place—some land animals in general starting to get aggressive/hostile towards humans—Could this be related to Global Weather Changes? Maybe Sunspot activity??? 2012??? Sigh…

  5. Found_One responds:

    A few strange things wash up on Long Island from time to time. Also don’t forget, one of the first few giant squid (Architeuthis dux) ever to be found on American soil was not terribly far from here (Long Island), on the shores of Plum Island, MA. So perhaps this shark was looking to avoid becoming a meal, though unlikely.

    Good thing they found it the day it beached though, if they’d have waited for some time, we might have an article about some plesiosaur remains.

  6. mothman123 responds:

    I dont think sharks even survive there with the ocean tempature

  7. lightdragon responds:

    Sharks are hardly confined to the tropics-and the basking shark is known to frequent these latitudes (in fact, we didn’t know it ever crossed the equator until a few years ago). And there are more than a few sharks which are known to inhabit cold waters; each and every abyssal shark, for example, and the greenland shark (that’s just off the top of my head). So yeah, they can survive-but it’s certainly an unusual occurrence to have one beach like this.

  8. Found_One responds:

    mothman123, There are most definately sharks on every side of Long Island. In fact, a few years back a great white was found swimming up a man made channel (canal maybe) that was quite large, but sick. Also we (Long Island) unfortunately have several shark fishing tournaments annually, including a Mako tournament, very sad. There is a bar at a place called Fire Island (the bar is called the In and the Out) which has a taxidermy mount of a large (I was told at or over 850lbs) Mako shark that was caught right at the dock in front of the bar.

  9. CryptoInformant 2.0 responds:

    Well, I don’t really know what killed it, but I do know that this isn’t a one-time occurence, nor indeed all that unusual – there have been strandings of Basking Sharks pretty much everywhere they live, and I don’t think this one is any particular cause for alarm. That being said, I just gotta reference the Beatles…

    I read the news today, oh boy,
    About a Basking Shark that beached itself.
    A crowd of people turned to go,
    But I just had to stay-
    I saw the video.*

    …Okay, I’m done. And yeah, there is a video of this thing floating around somewhere.

Sorry. Comments have been closed.

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