How did this frozen shark found on a Cape Cod beach die? It probably wasn’t the cold

A Massachusetts photographer captured an “insane” shot of a frozen shark that was found washed up on a Cape Cod beach amid a cold snap, an Instagram post shows.

Amie Medeiros photographed the ice-covered shark Saturday, Feb. 4, at Cold Storage Beach in Dennis, Mass., the post shows.

But the shark, identified by experts as a porbeagle, probably didn’t die from the cold, but rather of an injury to its side, which you can see in other photos posted by Medeiros, experts told CapeCod.com.

The wind chill in Dennis reached -30 degrees Fahrenheit overnight Friday, Feb. 3, the National Weather Service reported.

The stark photo of the frozen shark amazed Instagram visitors.

“Yikes!! The shark should have left Cape Cod awhile ago,” read one comment on a different Instagram post by Medeiros showing the shark.

“This is insane,” read another comment on the post.

Porbeagle sharks are a close relative of white sharks, according to The Wildlife Fund.

Critically endangered in some parts of the world, they can reach up to nearly 10 feet in length, the Shark Research Institute said. They are typically found in the North Atlantic.

Cold Storage Beach is east of Sesuit Harbor in Dennis, a town of 14,000 people on Cape Cod in Massachusetts.

This story was originally published February 6, 2023 at 8:20 AM with the headline "How did this frozen shark found on a Cape Cod beach die? It probably wasn’t the cold."