Page 8 - Carcharodon2001

ANNALES · Ser. hist. nat. · 11 · 2001 · 2 (25)
Alessandro DE MADDALENA et al.: AN ANALYSIS O F THE PHOTOGRAPHIC EVIDENCES OF THE LARGEST GREAT WHITE SHARKS, ..., 193-206
Fig. 8: Specimen caught off Filfla (Malta) on Apri/ 17'"
1987. (Photo: }. Gullaumier)
SI. 8: Primerek, ujet nedalec od Filfle (Malta) 17. aprila exhibited in the Museum of History and Culture on Gozo
1987. (Foto:}. Gullaumier)
fishermen Alfredo Cutajar and Vince D'Amato. The
catch took piace 3 miles off Blue Grotta, south of Filfla. al., 1996; Fergusson, 1996; Fergusson, 1998; De Mad-
The shark was caught with a fixed surface long-line be-
longing to Mr. D'Amato, but the line snapped and got
entangled with a line belonging to Mr. Cutajar, who
eventually landed the shark. The latter was taken to
Wied-lz-Zurrieq, but since it was too heavy for the har-
bour winch, it was landed in Marsax lokk. In its stomach
a whole 220 cm blue shark, Prionace glauca, a 250 cm
dolphin of unidentified species and bitten in two (or
three according to some other sources), a marine turtle,
Caretta caretta, having a 60 cm diameter carapace, and
a plastic bag containing garbage were found (it is not
known whether the lengths were originally taken in cm
or in feet, and other sources reported the following sizes documentary "Jaws in the Med" : here Mr. Cutajar re-
of these contents: blue shark 6 feet- 183 cm, dolphin 8
feet - 244 cm , marine turtle 2 feet - 61 cm). In the eve- while Abela confirmed that he had accurately measured
ning the shark was taken to Zurrieq and kept in a large
200
garage. A day later (Aprii 18'h) it was taken to the Valletta
fish market. The jaws were preserved by John Abela and
lsland. The case was reported and discussed by severa!
authors (Abela, 1989; Ellis & McCosker, 1991; Mollet et
dalena, 1999; Fergusson et al., 2000; De Maddalena,
2001 ). Unfortunately no fisheries officer measured the
shark (M. Darmanin, pers. comm.). Abela (1989) re-
ported to have measured accurately the shark's total
length in a straight line (as TOT, according to Fergusson,
1998), measuring 714 cm, and he also specified a weight
of 2730 kg. In a letter that the shark's capturer, Alfredo
Cutajar, wrote in May 1991 to Mr. Giuliano Chiocca, it
was stated that it was 723 cm long and weighing 2880
kg. A few years after, in the mid-1990s, Alfredo Cutajar
and john Abela were interviewed for the jeremy Taylor's
ported a length of 23 feet (701 cm) for this specimen,
th e shark twice while lying flat on the floor; apparently it
was 23 feet 5 inches (714 cm) long. Recentl y, in 2001,
Mr. Cutajar stated to have estimated the shark as being
23 feet (701 cm) long on the basis of the length of the
pick-up truck on to which it was placed with its caudal
fin hanging out (this statement clearly indicates that he
did not measure the shark's length); moreover he de-
clared that an approximate weight of 3 t was estimated
on the basis of the shark's individuai parts cut up and
sold at the fishmarket (M. Darmanin, pers. comm.).
Mollet et al. (1996) wrote, on the basis of discordant tes-
timonies by John Abela, that Abela did not measure the
shark's length but only estimated it. Fergusson (1998)
stated that this shark's length was in the 520-550 cm TL
ran ge: he reached this conclusion after examining the
photograph of this specimen taken by photographer john
Gullaumier and published by the Maltese newspaper "ln-
Nazzjon-Taghna" (Anonymous, 1987), based also on the
judgement by a forensic investigator who analysed the
pi cture on the request of the BBC Natura! History Unit.
Some time after, Fergusson et al. (2000) again confirmed
this estimate, stating that this specimen was no longer
than 550 cm TL. This length agrees with the size reported
by Anonymous (1987) who reported the shark's weight at
1.5 t and its length at "about 18 feet" (549 cm). According
to Fergusson (1998), in an interview given by Abela to
the BBC, he admitted that "he may have made a mistake
in taking the measurement". Recently, in 2001, Abel a re-
confirmed the 714 cm totallength, but added that he had
taken the shark's measure with a rope which he eventu-
ally measured (M. Darmanin, pers. comm.). However,
the "about 18 feet" length reported by Anonymous (1987)
was not measured but merely estimated (A. Buttigieg,
pers. comm.), and the same may be said of the 1.5 t
weight reported by the same source (Anonymous, pers.
c o m m.).