A strange egg appears on the beach of Barcelona
The Barcelona City Guard located on Sunday a mysterious sea egg floating near the Nova Icaria beach. As explained by the security body, after the discovery was made, one of its agents took the egg and transported it to the deep zone of the sea with the intention of preserving it.
The Guàrdia Urbana Twitter profile has shared an image in which the strange egg appears. In the photograph you can see its small dimensionof less than a span, as well as its black color and his square shapereminiscent of that of a beetle.
Ahir vam localitzar un ou de tauró embrionat 🦈 floating at the edge of the sea of the platja de la #NovaIcaria.
👮🏻♂️ A member of the nostre cos amb veterinària training he will agafar i vam transport mar endins amb l’embarcació de #platosgub per tal d’attempt to preserve it. pic.twitter.com/iE6ZYCIkl4
— Barcelona Urban Guard (@GUBBarcelona) July 4, 2022
It would be a ray egg
Initially, the local police -thanks to the fact that one of their agents has veterinary training- has identified the discovery as a shark egg. However, as explained Lucia GarridoResponsible for the Clinical and Rescue Area of the Center for the Recovery of Marine Animals (CRAM)what the Urban Guard has found is a ray egg
“Both the shark and the ray belong to the same familybut, in the case of the eggs, those of the shark are more elongated and have a flute shape” points out the specialist, who explains that “the ray egg, on the other hand, is squarerjust like the one we see in the picture”.
The CRAM veterinarian also points out that the Guardia Urbana agent acted correctly: “If we find an egg containing an embryo it is best to return it to the seaalthough there is very little chance that this egg will succeed”. The most common, according to him, is that the rays lay their eggs fixed on some rock to keep them safe from predators.
Sharks on Catalan beaches
Related news
Although this would not be an example of a shark egg, there is a possibility that a case could appear on the Catalan coast. “In the Mediterranean there are several species of sharks and, therefore, an egg could reach the beaches dragged by a boat”, explains Garrido. However, it would be a timely findnot as frequent as occurs with ray eggs.
In this sense, the CRAM specialist indicates that the most common shark species in the region is the dyer, recently sighted on a beach in Tarragona. It is a type of animal that does not lay eggs like the Nova Icària, but rather expels its young outside when they are fully developed.