Japanese fishermen were in it for the surprise of their lives when they captured an extremely rare creature, a megamouth shark.
The fishermen found the rare creature caught in their fishing net around 3 miles from Owase Port in Mie Prefecture. Measuring more than 15 feet long and weighing about a ton, this elusive creature is rarely seen even by fishermen.
Megamouth sharks have only been spotted about 60 times since it was first discovered and most of them were seen in Japan, Taiwan and the Philippines.
The first known close encounter with a megamouth shark (Megachasma pelagios) was in 1976, when a United States Navy crew caught the creature off the coast of Oahu, Hawaii. During that time, the crew was unable to identify the unusual and odd-looking creature, so they preserved the carcass and brought it to the Waikiki Aquarium for analysis.
It was later on identified as an undocumented species of planktivorous shark, which uses its massive mouth to catch jellyfish, plankton and other food particles.
A report said that the megamouth shark recently caught in Japan was purchased by a fishmonger and transported outside the prefecture. The shark is reportedly being processed for human consumption.
Scientists usually request to have rare creatures examined but fishermen are reluctant to surrender their catch without due profit.
Though the megamouth shark has been seen a few times since it was first discovered, it has been listed under Least Concern in the International Union for Conservation (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species. This means that a taxon has been evaluated against the criteria and does not qualify for other categories.
The real status of the megamouth shark's real population trend has not been established since it has been spotted only a few times since the '70s.
Since the shark has been rarely encountered throughout its range, further research on its ecology and habitat are required to better understand the possible impacts of fishing to the creature's population.
Fishermen in Asia, particularly in Taiwan, encounter an increasing number of catches involving megamouth sharks. Captures made by fisheries should be tracked and studied cautiously to make sure the species does not become threatened in the future.
"The increasing reports of captures from Southeast Asia suggest some potential effects of fisheries. However, the lack of catch data and life history information makes it difficult to understand the effects of these catches," the IUCN wrote in its report.
