Fishermen catch bizarre rare shark and eat it
This bizarre-looking megamouth shark with only 68 reported sightings in history was found floating in shallow waters by hungry fishermen who promptly ate it.
The rare megamouth shark (Megachasma pelagios) was found by fishermen floating in the shallows off the coast of Pedra do Sal in the Brazilian state of Piaui.
The bizarre shark that never closes its mouth was a male and measured just over one metre in length.
Georgia Aragao, from the Piaui Institute of Applied Fishing, said that records from 2016 showed that only 68 of the sharks had ever been spotted as they live in the depths of the ocean and rarely appear on the surface.
The shark was decomposing and taken onto the beach by the fishermen who spotted it before they reportedly divided its flesh among them to be eaten.
Aragao said: “It is extremely rare for the animal to be seen alive, just once on the coast of Hawaii and once in Japan. Unlike other sharks, the animal does not have teeth, it swims with its mouth open filtering the water and feeding on plankton and living water. The species can reach up to five metres in length.”
Aragao told reporters that the only marks found on the shark were those of parasites that feed on the flesh of dead animals.
She said that there were several hypotheses into the cause of the shark’s death, including the animal getting caught in prawn fishing nets or disease.
The expert added that eating the meat of the shark carried a risk, saying: “It accumulates all the accrues all the pollution in the ocean and it is not removed in the body. Whoever eats the meat is also consuming those pollutants.”
Megamouth sharks can live for over 100 years and the species was only discovered in November 1976.
– Australscope
