Donald McAlpine, Curator of Zoology at the New Brunswick Museum was notified that a large basking shark was found dead and entangled in the lines of lobster traps near Alma. Lobster fishers towed the animal to the harbour in Alma and advised Dr. McAlpine that it was easily accessible for necropsy. Mary Sollows (MSc student with Dr. Munkittrick), Katelyn Vendenbroeck and Joey Pratt collected samples from an adult, male basking shark on behalf of the museum.
We waited until 3:00pm for the tide to retreat and spent approximately 2 hours collecting the samples. The experience was amazing. It was dark by the time we finished but luckily the rain held off until were done. We were careful not to open the guts because of the potential for fouling the area. Skin samples, two gill rakers, a clasper and vertebra were taken to the New Brunswick Museum for preparation and accession into the Natural Science research collection. The jaws will remain in Alma for display for a couple of years.
- Submission by Mary Sollows
