Sharks inadvertently participated in a 1995-1998 study of health status of extralimital immature harp and hooded seals by providing specimens of seals `collected' at sea. When found washed ashore, the blubber thickness (a measure of body condition) of the shark-killed seals could be compared with that of seals that came ashore live and died on the beach (see Lucas & Daoust 2002).