News Animals

Scientists piece together clues in a shark ‘murder mystery’

Unfortunately for porbeagles, it’s a shark-eat-shark world

A light gray porbeagle shark swimming in the ocean

Porbeagle sharks (example shown) are formidable predators that can exceed three meters in length. Until now, the adults weren’t known to be hunted by other sharks.

Doug Perrine/Alamy Stock Photo

By Jason Bittel

There are not many animals that can mess with adult porbeagle sharks — or at least, that’s what researchers used to think. But then, in 2020, a porbeagle longer than Shaquille O’Neal is tall went missing nearly six months after it was fitted with tracking devices.