This shark’s sacrifice won’t be in vain.

Scientists were flabbergasted after a giant dead hammerhead shark washed up on an Alabama beach with 40 pups in its stomach.

The find was described recently in a Facebook post by the City of Orange Beach Coastal Resources (OBCR), who recovered the fearsome flotsam.

According to the post, the incident occurred Thursday after “a deceased 14-foot Great hammerhead shark” washed ashore in Orange Beach, AL.

“A few individuals pulled it to shore and contacted Coastal Resources,” they wrote. “Our staff quickly arrived and were able to get it off of the beach.”

The team continued, “While it was very sad that it passed, we were excited about the rare opportunity of seeing a Great hammerhead in such good condition.”

Accompanying photos show the rescue crew using a crane to lift the shark’s carcass onto the back of a truck.

Named for its gavel-shaped noggin, the critically endangered critter is one of the largest sharks in the world, capable of weighing nearly 1,000 pounds and attaining lengths of 20 feet.

The beast preys on smaller fish, octopuses, squid and stingrays, which it locates by using its hammerhead to scan the sand like a giant fleshy treasure detector.

Determined to take advantage of such an intact specimen, scientists reached out to researchers at Mississippi State University’s Marine Fisheries Ecology (MFE) group, who performed a necropsy corpse the following day.

They didn’t determine the animal’s cause of death; however, the post-mortem examination did reveal a Jaws-dropping surprise: The hammerhead was reportedly pregnant with 40 pups.

While certainly crestfallen over the deaths of the mama shark and her offspring, the OCBR acknowledged that “the data collected will be tremendously helpful in learning about Great hammerhead fecundity [fertility].”

“This was definitely an experience that we won’t forget, and we are grateful to have played a small role in this unique case,” they wrote.

In a similar story last year, beach-goers stumbled upon an 11-foot, 500-pound female hammerhead that had washed ashore in Southeast Florida.

Just like in the aforementioned incident, it also had a payload of pups in its stomach.