It's been the month of rare shark sightings. Just recently, an angler in Florida caught a Goblin Shark, the second one ever seen in the Gulf of Mexico, then out of nowhere fishermen in Japan caught a rare Megamouth shark near Shizuoka.
This is the 58th time in history one of these sharks has ever been caught by a human, and it was a spectacle as scientists performed an autopsy for the public at the Marine Science Museum in Shizuoka City. The shark was a beast, as it weighed around 1,500 pounds, which is pretty heavy for a female. We understand it was caught 2,600 feet under water, though we are unclear when exactly it was caught.
The world has no idea Megamouth existed until back in 1976 when the first sighting occurred. It prompted scientists to create a new genus for sharks, as the Megamouth was not a typical shark since it isn't a vicious predator. In fact, these sharks are filter feeders with wide mouths that are used to suck in small fishes or plant.
"Known prey of the Megamouth Shark consists entirely of planktonic animals, including euphausiid shrimps, copepods, and the Pancake Jellyfish (Atolla vanhoeffeni). Yet most plankton is found near the surface, so it is something of a mystery how Megamouth manages to find enough to eat," according to a website on animal biology.
Megamouth sharks are considered one of the rarest in the world and have so far been sighted in California, Japan, Taiwan, Indonesia, Brazil, Ecuador, Senegal, South Africa, Mexico and Australia. It's known to inhabit the Indian, Pacific and Atlantic oceans. Clearly, these sharks seem to swim around the world since they have not been spotted in any single location. This could be due to the shark's source of food and not being able to find enough to eat.
Because of this, we're also guessing their numbers are not great, and could be on the edge of extinction.
Right now, we wonder what the Megamouth would taste like on our dinner plate. So far, we only know of the Philippines eating this creature, after anglers accidentally captured one in 2009 that weighed over 1,000 pounds.
