Last weekend, the body of a shark washed ashore, leaving experts confused as to the cause of its death.

The 7m long shark was discovered on Inchydoney beach on Friday. Scientists believe the fish’s body could unlock the secrets of the basking shark – a breed of shark that lives in Irish Sea, although they currently do not know how it died because there were no obvious signs on its body.

This shark may not have reached adulthood.

According to information from CorkBeo magazine, over the weekend scientists from the Irish Whale and Dolphin group, the Zoology Department of Trinity University, Dublin and Cork County Council came to examine and analyze the animal.

Marine biologists have said it is a sad discovery that such a magnificent mammal was found dead. Dr Nicholas Payne – lecturer at Trinity University said: “It’s sad to see such a large and beautiful creature in this condition, but it would also be good if we could test and find something useful from it”.

Dr. Payne also added, “We really don’t know how this fish died. There was food in its stomach and it doesn’t look like it accidentally swallowed anything harmful. There’s also no evidence that it have died as a result of being hit by a boat, barge or anything similar”

Dr Payne said the shark was 7.5 meters long, but adults can be more than 10 meters long, so it is believed the fish was not yet an adult.

The fish is quite fresh, which will be of great help to scientists

“It’s sad that it couldn’t live longer, but we might as well take advantage. The fish was fresh and it was surprising to find a specimen in such good condition. Normally we would find A rotting corpse that has been dead for weeks.”

“It will make our work a little more comfortable, we can get more information out of it and see all the tissues better.”

Scientists expected to find plastic in the animal’s stomach due to pollution in the water, but there is no evidence to support this guess.

Researchers can easily observe the animal’s tissues.

They took the sample to the laboratory for advanced analysis, and the fish’s body was buried by authorities on Saturday night.

Basking sharks are often seen in southern Irish waters at this time of year feeding before migrating north.

Dr. Payne said these creatures are gentle giants, they feed similarly to whales and have small teeth.

He added that this fish rarely actively attacks, but people should still be careful because they are very large and can panic if someone is nearby.