Another Rare Shark Is Caught

Megamouth is landed in Japan
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted May 8, 2014 2:16 PM CDT
Another Rare Shark Is Caught
File photo of a megamouth shark, not the one caught recently.   (OpenCage/Wikimedia Commons)

First came the strange-looking goblin shark caught off the Florida Keys. Now comes another exceedingly rare creature from the deep: a megamouth shark caught in Japanese waters, reports the West Australian. Fishermen brought up the 13-foot-long, 1,500-pound shark from a depth of 2,600 feet, and about 1,500 people witnessed a public autopsy in Shizuoka. Megamouths weren't discovered and named until the mid-'1970s, and fewer than 60 have been caught or sighted, according to the Japan Daily Press. The relatively few humans who have encountered the shark have no cause to fear: It uses that huge mouth to feed on plankton. (Click to read about yet another rare creature found with that goblin shark.)

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