GREAT WHITE SHARK !

Great White Shark!!

It's not every day that we get to see a Great White Shark close up, so when Auckland Museum decided to dissect one outside the Loading Bay (it had been caught and killed by accident) we decided to give it a go, and see how squeamish we were about such things.


Shark from the viewing platform


Public dissection of the jaws


Around 1500 people joined us at the Museum to see the first public dissection of a great white shark in New Zealand.There were tiered seats, camera crews and reporters.


The temperature was 31 degrees in the sun and we joined the single queue to get a glimpse of the giant female shark. Everyone was allowed to go right up to it, in the hot sunshine, to get a chance to touch and take photographs of it. I didn't touch it but the girls said it was soft and silky to the touch; not what you'd expect.


Queuing to see the shark


Girls with the Great White shark


Nobody seemed too squeamish despite the amount of blood, and people posed with the great white and even touched the serrated teeth when the jaw was extracted (lots of blood there!)


TV crews making a film

The museum and the Department of Conservation (DOC) performed the necropsy, (or fish autopsy for the non-biologists), on the shark, with running commentary throughout, which was also relayed to a live video inside the Museum.


Necropsy


Great White close up!


The event was to raise awareness and was broadcast live to millions of people on the internet.Everyone who came was allowed to touch the shark and children queued up to ask questions, which were answered directly by the scientists there.


Answering questions


The shark was about three metres, and was caught in Kaipara Harbour last week. It was tangled in a gill net, the fishermen who caught it were there and told us that they had also caught it the day before, but released it back into the ocean. However the second time, it was too late to save it. So, it was frozen for the public event to be planned.


Mrs Jaws


The spinal column section


I have to say it was sad to see such a magnificent creature cut into bits, but it all hopefully inspired people to protect it and understand it more.It is a protected species in New Zealand.


Scientists working on the shark


The last great white shark attack in New Zealand was in 1968 and the last attack in Auckland was as far back as 1911 but there have recently been several sightings of Great Whites near shore. It makes us worried for Greg in his kayak!


Newspaper photo showing the jaws in action