Massive shark washes up on Cape Cod beach: 'May look like it's smiling but sadly, it is not'

Rick Sobey, Boston Herald on May 21, 2025

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

BOSTON — A massive shark washed up on a Cape Cod beach this week, as researchers try to figure out what led to the shark getting stranded.

It has already been a very busy year for basking sharks in Cape Cod Bay, and some ultimately wash up dead on beaches for a variety of reasons.

Earlier this week, shark researchers responded to Eastham’s Kingsbury Beach for a 24-foot female basking shark that stranded.

“This basking shark may look like it’s smiling but sadly, it is not,” shark researcher John Chisholm wrote. “This poor individual stranded on a beach along Cape Cod Bay. There are a lot of baskos around this year and unfortunately some strand.

“Unlike marine mammals which can breathe out of water, once sharks are out of the water they’re in a race against time and tide,” he added. “Sometimes smaller sharks can be helped back into the water but when you’re the second largest fish in the ocean, whose weight is measured in tons, the odds are against you.”

Basking sharks are up to 30 feet long, and they filter feed on plankton.

This stranded 24-foot shark likely weighed around two tons, which is about 4,000 pounds.

“We can’t physically remove them by hand, so we let nature takes its course,” Chisholm said, noting that scavengers like coyotes, foxes and raccoons will pick at it.

The slow-moving sharks — which are often mistaken for great white sharks — have been spotted on some recent whale watches across the region.

“This has been a BIG year for basking sharks in Cape Cod Bay,” shark researcher Greg Skomal posted. “Unfortunately, when numbers are this high we often get reports of strandings, like this one today.

“Sharks strand for various reasons from illness to just bad luck,” he added. “This shark may have just been too close to shore when the tide went out and left it high and dry. We’ll perform a necropsy to see what we can discover.”

Researchers during the necropsy didn’t find anything that was obviously wrong with the shark.

Given the location in Cape Cod Bay, Chisholm said he wouldn’t be surprised if the shark got stuck when the tide went out.

“When the tide goes out fast, they’re basically screwed,” he said.

NOAA scientists took tissue samples to further investigate any causes of death.

Chisholm every spring receives many shark reports that turned out to be basking sharks, instead of great white sharks.

They’re often mistaken for white sharks given their similar proportions.

White sharks have a pointed dorsal fin, while basking sharks have a rounded fin. Also, white sharks have two-tone coloration, and basking sharks have uniform coloration.

Another main difference is that white sharks have large gill slits, while basking sharks have extra large gill slits.

Chisholm continues to remind people who see a white shark to report it on the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy’s Sharktivity app.

_____