SCIENTISTS are baffled after a spate of great white sharks with swollen brains have washed up on beaches.
The marine mystery has researchers in the US and Canada scratching their heads over the cause.
Great whites have been washing up in the US and Canada with swollen brains[/caption]
The inflamed tissue can stop the sharks from feeding and knowing where they are[/caption]
No dead great whites had been found in more than 30 years by the Canadian Wildlife Health Cooperative until 2023.
In August of that year, the first was found dead on a beach in a national park on Prince Edward Island, Canada.
The apex predator which was a juvenile male measuring 8 feet 9 inches had no obvious signs of injury or reason for its death.
It was not until scientists cut it open that they realised the giant of the deep had suffered from meningoencephalitis where the tissues in the brain become inflamed impacting cognitive function.
After this first shark was found, four more washed up dead on beaches across the east coast of Canada.
Dr Megan Jones, a veterinary pathologist and regional director of the CWHC told The New York Times: “Three of these five seem to have the same potentially infectious disease affecting their brain.
“We need to know more about what that is.”
She explained that when the brains of the great whites swell and get squeezed, it may no longer be able to feed or be aware of its location which could see it get stuck in shallow water.
The US coast also saw a spate of dead great whites with similar brain inflammation after they started washing up from 2022
The first was in Massachusetts on July 4, followed by others including one on Long Island, New York, and another in South Carolina.
Dr. Alisa Newton, the chief veterinarian for OCEARCH, a shark research organization based in Florida said: “I feel very strongly that there’s something significant going on.”
Similar deaths have previously been reported in other species of shark but the cause of the inflammation was clear such as a bacterial infection.
This is not the case with the great whites.
Dr Jones, Dr Newton and a group of other scientists are now trying to figure out the mystery.
The researchers are concerned there could be a new threat against the species that is already listed as vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
While numbers are dwindling, the population is increasing in the North Atlantic as changing temperatures push their food source further north causing great whites to follow suit.
However, Tonya Wimmer, executive director of the Canada-based Marine Animal Response Society, told The Times that the sudden shark deaths could be because there are more sharks in the ocean.
Little is known about great whites with scientists saying that area of research is underfunded.
Dr Newton is hoping to get some more answers after submitting brain tissue from one of the washed up sharks to the Washington Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory.
There, the tissue will undergo genetic sequencing to see if there is something else living in it like a virus or bacteria that could have caused the swelling.
Another species of shark has left scientists baffled after a swell shark had a pup despite living in a tank without a partner for three years.
Researchers are working to find out what is causing the brain swelling[/caption]
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