Environment

The whale is dead. Its corpse has been drifting in the open Mediterranean Sea since August 26.

In the middle of the waters, more than 35km off the coast of Sanary-sur-Mer, in the Var in France, the carcass of the whale is being devoured by two blue sharks. The scene was captured by the boat excursion agency Sanary Aventure Marine.

On the French coast, the Elasmed observatory considers that this is an "extremely rare phenomenon". Due to the weather, it wasn't possible to study it further.

The body of the cetacean, as France 3 Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur points out, is currently in a maritime area of ​​87,500 km2, called the Pelagos Sanctuary, which guarantees the protection of marine mammals that frequent it. France, Italy and Monaco have agreed to preserve this area.

According to the IUCN, or the International Union for Conservation of Nature, the blue shark is “critically endangered”, it's one of the last large sharks in the Mediterranean. Marine biologist and president of the Ailerons association, Matthieu Lapinsk, confirms that the observation of these two sharks, capable of reproducing and adults, is good news. On the other hand, it testifies to the lack of biodiversity in this area. “There should be much more diversity of species around this whale. For example, hammerhead sharks, white sharks and the presence of a dozen blue sharks would not have been surprising”, adds Matthieu Lapinski.

The marine biologist is therefore sounding the alarm: “today, the Mediterranean Sea is a dead zone for sharks and rays. There has been historical targeted fishing in the past, but also trawling areas, pollution of the food chain and climate change”.

(AsD - Source: L’Indépendant - Illustration: Unsplash)