A great white shark washed up on the shore of the northeast state of Rhode Island early on Saturday.

A local fisherman spotted the carcass and a crowd of beachgoers quickly gathered on the rocky shore to see the 13-foot long shark.

"My theory behind this is with Westport Harbour right behind us, it's probably a fisherman that had it caught in gillnets and cut it loose and it drifted in. We haven't seen any evidence of sharks here all summer," said Little Comptom Beach Manager, Jim Farrell.

Researchers dissected the animal which they estimated weighed around 726 kg.