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Four burly men in overalls and gumboots carried her out of the Auckland War Memorial Museum chiller room wrapped in a shroud of white plastic.
Applause broke out from hundreds of bystanders at the museum's loading dock as the men started to peel off the cover.
Then they
groaned as she was revealed - a great white shark, lying bloodied on a table under the harsh sunlight.
"Yes, I know it looks gruesome ... she is not at her best," said Department of Conservation marine ecologist Clinton Duffy.
"In the water she would be a bronzy-brown colour, not white as the name implies."
Mr Duffy said the shark was accidentally trapped in a net and drowned in the Kaipara Harbour 10 days ago.
A juvenile, she appeared to be underfed, about 8 to 10 years old, 3.28m long and weighing 300kg.
Mr Duffy compared her to another young female caught off Raglan in 2005. She was 4.7m long and had a bull fur seal in her stomach.
The audience, including children, gasped or clenched their teeth as Mr Duffy's long fisherman's knife opened the belly.
The suspense was building. What was in the shark's stomach?
Mr Duffy did some teasing.
"Those scars on her mouth are bite marks from fur seals she caught," he lectured.
"This shark is capable of swallowing a fur seal whole."
But when Mr Duffy finally cut open the stomach and groped inside, he found only a snapper hook, handfuls of mushy, nearly digested fish and a large ear bone from a fish.
Spectators were invited to take a close-up look at the shark's mouthful of fierce teeth.
"The teeth point backwards, so once you are in you can't get out," said Mr Duffy.
Department of Conservation marine species conservation manager Simon Banks said it was fortunate that the shark was made available for examination, because the great white was a protected species.
All parts of its body were useful for research, he said.
It was caught by a fisherman netting for trevally, who informed DoC.
More than 2500 people saw the dissection from a temporary grandstand above the museum's basement garage doors or on giant screens in cooler comfort inside the museum.
Among the most fascinated viewers were Lisa Simpson, of Green Bay, and her sons Khale, 10, and Roman 3.
"Mum brought me as a surprise," said Khale. "I touched its head and it was scaly and smelled bad."
His mother said: "I think it's amazing, a great experience for everybody."
Sonia Bennett, of Gulf Harbour, brought her six children.
"I thought it would be educational and something we won't get the chance to do again."
Dianne Rosandich, of Titirangi, said her grandchildren Finn and Poppy McDonald were enthralled.
"They're keen on fishing and wanted to see it," she said.
Biology students Kassie Lubinski and Peter Woodhead said it was rare opportunity.
"The attraction was definitely what the stomach contents would be and the liver,"said Ms Lubinski.
Museum marine curator Dr Tom Trnski said he was overwhelmed by the interest in the shark dissection event from overseas as well as from within New Zealand.
The museum showed film of the dissection on its website for overseas spectators.
