Dead shark will be necropsied after washing up on Saanich beach

Researchers believe a dead, pregnant shark that washed up on a Vancouver Island beach may have been drawn to shallow water to give birth before it died.

The bluntnosesixgill shark was found on Coles Bay beach in North Saanich, B.C., on Wednesday afternoon.

District officials and staff from Fisheries and Oceans Canada were sent to remove the fish, which weighedbetween 270 and 360 kilograms, from the beach.

Reseachers at the University of Victoria are set to necropsy the shark on Friday in an effort todetermine its cause of death.

The bluntnosesixgillis the largest predatory shark regularlyfound in Canadian Pacific waters. It is named for having six gill slits, where most sharks only have five.