News from Denia

Dead shark washes up on Dénia beach

By: thinkSPAIN


It was around 8pm yesterday evening when the corpse of a large fish was spotted floating in the water off Marineta Cassiana beach in Denia.

Thinking initially that it was a dolphin, it caused little panic among the large number of locals and tourists out enjoying the twilight, and it was not until the gentle waves pushed it onto the beach itself, that it became obvious that it was, in fact, a 1.3 metre long Tiger Shark.

A Local Police officer took control of the situation until the body was eventually removed for analysis by council marine-life experts. He said that there were no obvious wounds or signs that the fish had been caught in trawler nets, but the large swarm of flies attacking it, suggested that it had been dead for some time.

Although this is the first sighting of a shark in the Marina Alta so far this summer, a total of 35 dead dolphins have been found washed up on the region's coastline, most of which were subsequently found to have been infected with the deadly DDV virus.