A giant tiger shark, measuring over 13 feet in length, was caught and then released off the coast of South Carolina this week, and speculation has centered around the idea that the predator may have been of world record size. According to Shark Attack News, officials with South Carolina’s Department of Natural Resources
hooked the massive tiger shark around October 24. The predator was caught with a longline, which DNR officials utilize in order to capture, tag, and take blood samples from sharks in the local waters. Measuring 13 feet, 6 inches, the shark was a female, displaying a considerable girth.
In a post to the Sharks On The Sand message board, an account seemingly affiliated with local anglers Outcast Sport Fishing posted a photo of the tiger shark, lashed to the side of a boat. The shark was suspended upside down, creating an effect known as tonic immobility. As the Inquisitr has previously noted, this orientation naturally yet harmlessly paralyzes the shark, allowing researchers to perform their work without fear of attack.
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OTHER Coverage by Shark Attack News: “On October 24, 2014, a message board poster Outcast posted the following below photo of a tiger shark that was caught off the coast of Hilton Head, South Carolina. According to Outcast, the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources hooked the shark on one of their longlines which they use to catch, tag, measure and take blood samples from sharks. This ‘girthy’ female measured in at 13 feet, 6 inches. There is some speculation that the shark may actually be world-record size based on weight. In 1964, Walter Maxwell landed a 13 foot, 10.5 inch tiger shark off the Cherry Grove Pier in North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. That shark weighed in at 1,780 pounds. Walter’s catch held the weight record until 2004 when an angler caught a tiger shark off the coast of Ulladulla, Australia that weighed 5 pounds, 11 ounces heavier. We should note that there is a growing conservation push for the International Game Fish Association to stop using weight as the benchmark for world records and instead use length measurements. This would allow mature fish to be released so they could reproduce thus increasing the numbers of threatened species. Did this Hilton Head tiger shark break the world record? Fortunately, we’ll never know for sure. The photo was posted on the SharksOnTheSand message board.”