A massive shark, measured over 28 feet long, has washed up on a beach in Rhode Island.
Early morning joggers in Misquamicut, RI were greeted by an unlikely addition to the beach.
A dead basking shark was found Sunday morning, causing regional biologists and specialists to try to figure out why the beast ended up there.
Basking sharks spend much of their time in the deep ocean, feeding on plankton. They are the second biggest fish in the world, second only to the whale shark, another type of shark that feeds on plankton.
A homeowner in Misquamicut called in the animal's appearance to police around 7:15 a.m. Sunday. The police called the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management, which then called the Mystic Aquarium in Connecticut, who sent members of their staff to the beach to investigate the shark.
The staffers from the aquarium did say that basking sharks are fairly common in New England waters. They took photos of the animal to study it further.
The aquarium staff says that the Northeast Fisheries Science Center will send a shark biologist to perform a necropsy on the shark, hoping to find an answer to why it died.
The average basking shark is usually between 20 and 26 feet long. But some have been recorded as long as 33 feet. The sharks are known to migrate from New England waters to warmer southern waters during the winter months.
