THE discovery of 30 starry smooth-hound sharks on a Prestatyn beach has been described as "worrying" and "unusual" by a marine expert. 

"Heartbreaking" images of the small sharks emerged on social media on Tuesday, June 6. A video was also shared. 

The sharks have been identified as Starry Smooth-Hounds, also known as a 'Gummy Sharks'. These are small, long, thin sharks who have little white dots around their fins and tails. 

Passers-by and dog walkers spotted the small sharks.

The reason behind the sad discovery is currently unknown but Gem Simmons, from the British Divers Marine Life Rescue, who headed to the Prestatyn beach, wants to avoid assigning blame.

"There is no blame here," she said. 

"Fishing communities are integral, fishermen there are very conservation oriented.

"In terms of the sharks, we will on occasions get strandings of sharks. My opinion, and it is my opinion only, it that it is unusual. It is normally the Lesser-spotted Catshark and you will see one or two on occasion, maybe three. These were all Starry Smooth-Hounds which I have never really seen in any shallow area on the coast. They are a coastal species.

"Matt and I headed down on Wednesday. I'm a local marine biologist and also work in rescue. We do keep in close contact with each other and do keep an eye on these social media groups. 

"All of these animals are indications of ocean health. 

"This was reported to us quite late in the evening, but we were heading out the next morning. Most of them had become submerged by an incoming tide at that point so we couldn't really retrieve them, but we had a look at the majority of them and the birds had completely ravaged them.

"What we would have been looking for is damage to the gills and that would have indicated gill netting. The hope is that those we can't remove will just head out on the tide and they are a natural food source."

Gem said it is important that the public do always report discoveries like these. 

"People should not touch them or remove them though," Gem added. 

"And keep your dogs away. If this was something biological within them or a pollutant in the environment, you definitely don't want your dogs near them. The same goes for deceased seals.

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"We have documented this occasion and Matt is going to contact Project Shark - A Welsh organisation that research sharks and we will also submit it to Natural Resources Wales (NRW) to investigate it. 

"My opinion, in terms of this discovery, is that it is certainly worrying.

"Initially it was reported as 60 plus sharks but we counted between 25 and 30.

"It is still a worrying number. It is a high number for sure."