A Cork dairy farmer has found a miniature shark, known as a dogfish, in his silage.

Clive Kingston, 17, son of IFA Munster regional chair Harold Kingston, found the dogfish when feeding silage to cattle on Tuesday morning in Courtmacsherry, Co Cork.

The fish, about 2ft long, was unmarked and perfectly preserved “with the eyes and all”, leaving the father and son duo wondering how it got there.

The shark, often referred to as a dogfish, is a species called the small spotted catshark and is one of 71 cartilaginous sharks found in Irish waters.

Silage ground

Speaking to the Irish Farmers Journal, Harold Kingston said the ground the silage came off is “right on the water’s edge” but doesn’t flood.

“It’s on the coast with a salt marsh beside it. It’s low lying but not that low lying.”

Kingston said he thinks it was likely a gull, buzzard or an otter that dropped the fish in the field, possibly right before the grass was taken in for the pit.

“The gulls would have a row and could have dropped it. I’m used to finding fish in the field.

“It’s a strange one though because there’s practically no mark on it.”

Preserved

Kingston, who is also used to seeing rubbish in the silage from the same coastal field, described how the dogfish is completely preserved and put it down to the acidic conditions in the silage pit.

He said he thinks the creature’s limpness and cartilage body is the reason it managed to get through the harvester untouched.

But “how it managed to get into the pit and the way it was picked up” is still a bit of a mystery.

However the shark found its way into the silage, Kingston’s cows will not be having a fish supper any time soon.