ISLAMORADA, Fla. -- A mother bull shark died from a wound from a fishing hook Monday morning, and her 11 unborn pups also died despite efforts to save them.
Neil Hammerschlag, of the University of Miami's Marine Biology and Fisheries, said the 9-foot, 4-inch bull shark likely had come close to shore near Mile Marker 75 in the Florida Keys to give birth.
A J-shaped hook, which Hammerschlag said people fishing from the shore often use, caught on the mother shark's gill, eventually killing her. The shark bled to death after being hooked during legal catch-and-release sport fishing.
"We found this big J-hook that was actually stuck in the shark's gills. It didn't catch the shark where you want to, which is the corner of the mouth, where you can bring it in and fish it -- superficial wounds," Hammerschlag said.
UM biologists were at the scene and tried to save the shark's 11 unborn babies, but they all died.
Researcher: J-Hook Killed Mother Shark
"I don't think this was people trying to kill sharks, not at all. I think it's a case of not knowing enough about the biology of the animal and potentially hooking it in the wrong place," Hammerschlag said.
Hammerschlag said that J-hooks are very dangerous to sharks because sharks swallow instead of chewing, and the hooks can damage their internal organs. While it is legal to use a J-hook to fish for sharks, shark experts recommend using a circle hook.
"The barb points inward, not outward, so if an animal, specifically a shark, were to swallow this whole and it were to go down a shark's gut into its stomach, once the fisherman pulls on it, the barb doesn't catch on anything," Hammerschlag said. "This J-hook, just because you have the barb facing upward, there's a higher probability that once they swallow this hook, it can get caught on an organ, esophagus, stomach throat -- not a spot where you want to be hooked."
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