Shark survives swordfish stab wound to the head

Fishermen in Albania caught a blue shark with a 18cm long swordfish beak fragment in its skull, marking the first case of a shark surviving such an injury.

The blue shark survived the accident after being impaled by a swordfish. When it was caught by a group of fishermen in Vlorë, southern Albania, it had no visible puncture wounds and had bait in its stomach, indicating it was feeding normally. A subsequent autopsy revealed a 7-inch (18.6 cm) beak of a swordfish stuck in its skull, New Scientist reported on October 1.

Swordfish have extremely long and sharp beaks. (Photo: BGR).

'When I realized there was a swordfish beak in the shark's head, I was shocked,' said Andrej Gajić, a specialist at the ADRIA Sharklab Research Center in Vlorë. Gajić has conducted tens of thousands of shark autopsies but had never come across a case like this before, nor had he seen it in any other study. His team specializes in resuscitating and releasing sharks that have been caught by mistake, but this shark died before reaching port.

There have been eight cases of blue sharks ( Prionace glauca ) being stabbed by swordfish ( Xiphias gladius ) with the attacker's beak located inside or near the shark's head. A big-eye bream shark ( Alopias superciliosus ) and a mako shark ( Isurus oxyrinchus ) have also been found stabbed by long-billed fish, including swordfish.

This is the first confirmed case of a shark surviving such an accident. When it strikes its predator, the young swordfish can instinctively raise its head, breaking the beak without damaging any of the shark's vital structures.

The adult shark was 275cm long and weighed 44kg. Swordfish can grow up to 455cm long and weigh up to 650kg. There have been several reports of blue sharks eating swordfish. Both species use aggressive hunting tactics to feed on large schools of fish or squid. Such ramming could occur when the swordfish tries to defend itself from a blue shark attack, or as a random accident when the two predators are hunting the same prey. According to Gajić, more observations are needed to determine the cause.