Shark washes ashore in Port Dufferin, N.S.

A shortfin mako shark, pictured Saturday, June 14, 2025, washed ashore near Port Dufferin, N.S. (Courtesy: Lawrence McQueen)

A shark was discovered along Nova Scotia’s Eastern Shore.

The Marine Animal Response Society (MARS) received a call about the animal in the Port Dufferin area Saturday evening. It said the animal was reported dead and appears to have been there for a few days.

MARS said it was a mako shark.

“We don’t often get reports of dead or distressed makos anywhere in the Maritimes, so this is not a common occurrence,” said MARS Executive Director Tonya Wimmer in an email to CTV News.

“Makos aren’t often reported in nearshore waters, though there have been some sightings over the years.”

According to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO), a shortfin mako shark is a “sleek spindle shaped shark with a long conical snout” that has “short pectoral fins and a crescent shaped caudal fin.”

DFO said makos typically live in tropical and temperate offshore waters.

“In the western Atlantic it can be found from Argentina and the Gulf of Mexico to Browns Bank, along the continental shelf of Nova Scotia and even into the Gulf of St. Lawrence. In Canadian waters these sharks are not abundant as they prefer warm waters, but neither are they rare,” reads the DFO website.

DFO noted in some years, warm water conditions can bring them closer to shore.

“In 2002 for example, several makos were caught during blue shark fishing derbies and as part of recreational shark fishing trips about [16 kilometres] outside of Halifax Harbour. However, no makos have been observed within [1.6 kilometres] of shore.”

At this time, it is not known what caused this shark to wash ashore in Nova Scotia.

MARS said it has documented and sampled the animal, and it will be disposed of locally.

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