Sand Tiger Shark Caught At Jones River Landing

September 17, 2007

Release from: Scott C. Smith
GateHouse News Service

In a program designed to monitor the habitat of sand tiger sharks found in the estuaries of Kingston, Plymouth and Duxbury bays, marine biologists with the Massachusetts Shark Research Program have been trying to catch a sand tiger at the Jones River Landing for the past couple of weeks. The Landing is about two miles inland from the bay, and researchers want to learn why the sharks are venturing so far from ocean water.

They landed one early Sunday morning. After letting it stabilize in a water tank for a few hours, they took a blood sample to measure its stress level. Satisfied that it was not adversely stressed from the experience, the biologists attached a streamer tag to one of its two dorsal fins as a means of later identifying its movements in the bay and ocean.