"Jaws & Release": Very Large Shark Washes Up On Shore, in Kuşadası

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(Hürriyet Newspaper, 20 June 2026)

                                       It takes a village...

As a 3.85-meter-long (12.5 feet) female bluntnose sixgill shark that 

washed ashore in the Kuşadası district of Aydın is being examined, 

Bahattin Sürücü, President of the Ecosystem  Conservation and 

Nature Lovers Association (EKODOSD), noted that  the species 

rarely encounters humans and is a significant creature for the marine 

ecosystem.  

Teams were dispatched to the area after Birol Özmen, who was 

kayaking off the coast of Kuşadası, reported seeing a large fish on 

the shore.  

Birol bey was scared sharkless!

An examination identified the creature as a bluntnose sixgill shark 

(*Hexanchus griseus*).  Following the species identification, tissue 

samples were collected and preserved for subsequent delivery to a 

university.

It is a shark species widely known in the Aegean and Mediterranean 

Seas but  rarely seen in the Black Sea. While many other shark species 

have five gill slits, the Bluntnose Sixgill Shark has six.