Dead shark on Amagansett beach was a great white, scientist says

A dead shark found Tuesday evening on the beach at Amagansett has been confirmed as a great white, according to Demian Chapman, assistant professor of marine science at the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences of Stony Brook University.

Chapman and his students assisted with Thursday's dissection, which was conducted by the U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service. That service put the great white on the prohibited list in the 1990s, meaning people are not allowed to fish for it or possess one without a permit, and if one is caught accidentally, it must be returned alive to the sea, Chapman said.

The dissection "yielded a lot of good information for a variety of scientists," he said, but was not conducted with an eye to determining its cause of death. He said the shark was a male born within the last two years.

Surrounded by a crowd of beachgoers, the carcass of the shark was picked up Tuesday evening by marine patrol officers, said Ed Michels, chief harbormaster for the Town of East Hampton. It was 4 feet long and about 75 pounds, he said.

While plenty of fish wash up on the beach, he said, it's pretty rare to find a great white shark.