MTU team dissects critically endangered angel shark in effort to protect species

Angel sharks are now thought to be locally extinct across much of their former distribution area, from Scandinavia to the Canary Islands

CSI of the Sea: Munster Technological University perform a rare dissection of an angel shark at the Kerry South Campus. It was discovered on a beach in Co Clare by a former student.

A rare species of shark under threat of extinction has gone under the knife at Munster Technological University (MTU) in the hopes that conservationists will be able to learn more about how to protect it.

A team at MTU Kerry's South Campus, in collaboration with the Irish Elasmobranch Group (IEG), Project SIARC (Sharks Inspiring Action and Research in Communities), and the Cetacean Strandings Investigation Programme (CSIP), performed a rare dissection of a Squatina squatina specimen, more commonly know as an angel shark or monkfish.