Neighbors discover 4-foot shark while on daily desert walk
 

By PETER DAY/Star Editor

Neighbors Richard Doornbos and Al Embry have stumbled upon numerous mysteries of the Mojave Desert, but never anything like this.

Last week, while walking in a large vacant field across from Sultana High School near G Avenue, the two found a 4-foot-long and ominously unmistakeable shark. The fish, which appeared to have been dumped just hours before, bore large spotted markings.

A cursory Internet search suggests the shark is a Leopard Shark, a member of the triakidae family of houndsharks that might be displayed in an aquarium. But the size of this specimen suggests it would be much too large for just any living room fish bowl.

Doornbos, a Hesperia Star columnist, and Embry believe the shark may have been caught on a deep sea fishing trip. Perhaps the fisherman brought it home to Hesperia and sent it swimming in the family pool, only to die a freshwater, chlorinated death.

Undoubtedly Doornbos and Embry will encounter future desert mysteries, but they don?t expect another big fish story like this.