By Juliet Speedy
One of the ocean's predators was cut to pieces in public today to reveal the secrets of the broad nosed seven gilled shark.
Marine experts at the New Zealand Marine Studies Centre in Dunedin dissected the two metre beast, which died after being caught by a local fisherman.
But when experts opened up the shark they got a bit of a surprise - 114 egg sacks.
“Kind of sad because all those eggs could have produced lots of sharks but kind of sick because it was really gory,” says onlooker Alex Thompson.
The man wielding the knife, Steve Cutler of the NZMSC, says it's good to teach the public a thing or two about the feared fish.
“I think the public sometimes have quite a negative perception or an uncertain perception - a little bit of fear, a little bit of mythology around sharks,” he says.
Curator Adelle O'Neill says onlookers had mixed reactions to the shark.
“There's always a bit of ‘eeew, ah, oh yuk!’ and then you get the others who are fascinated,” she says.
The sharks, which are known to inflict a painful bite, are fairly common in shallow waters of Otago.
Some of the shark dissected today will be preserved and used for research purposes, the rest will be fed to other animals.
3 News