Michelle Greenling was walking the shore in Sea Isle City, New Jersey, when she came across sharks washed ashore in NJ. She said she found 29 dead sharks between 29th and 39th streets, turning an ordinary beach walk into something she had not expected to see.
The sharks were identified as juvenile dogfish, and the scene covered part of a popular stretch along the Jersey Shore. Greenling said, "The first couple weren't too surprising, but when I saw three and four and five, I knew something was up" to CBS Philadelphia, and added, "I was concerned about the water. I was concerned about the sharks."
Mike Heithaus On Dogfish
Mike Heithaus said it is "pretty rare" to see that many sharks washed up on the beach. Heithaus, the dean of Florida International University's College of Arts, Sciences & Education, said dogfish gather in large schools, which means one event can affect a group at once rather than leave only a single animal stranded.
Heithaus also said, "This is definitely something that's pretty rare, to see that many sharks washed up on the beach." That leaves the number on the beach more notable than any single carcass, because the count suggests a shared event rather than isolated cases scattered one by one.
Sea Isle City Shoreline
Greenling's account adds the practical detail beachgoers would want most: the sharks were not spread across the full coast, but concentrated between 29th and 39th streets. She said she saw the first few, then kept counting as she walked, which is how the total reached 29 dead sharks.
The cause of the deaths remains the unanswered part. Heithaus said a toxin might first seem like one possible explanation, but he also said he would expect other marine species to have been affected if that were the reason. For anyone walking that stretch of beach, the immediate takeaway is simple: the animals were found, the count is specific, and the explanation has not yet been pinned down.
