If you think only dolphins and whales are caught in Japan, think again. A rare deep-water megamouth shark has been captured in the waters near Shizuoka in Japan recently. An autopsy of the deepwater creature has been made public with more than 1,500 people witnessing it.
Megamouth sharks are not common and it was only three decades ago that the species has been recognized. It is called such because of its head, which is not in proportion to its body and could reach a maximum of 17 feet long. The one caught in Japan at depth of 2,600 feet was only 13-feet long, but already weighed 1,500 pounds. A filter feeder, megamouth sharks feed on plantkton and jellyfish, keeping the ocean clean It is currently grouped under the plankton-eating sharks and is the smallest in size compared to the whale shark and basking shark. The Marine Science Museum in Shizuoka, Japan dissected the animal caught for further study with more than a thousand onlookers, curious to see the insides of the giant creature. The remains of the shark can now be viewed at the museum.
Less than a hundred sightings of the rare creature have been recorded with around only 58 actually seen by people while 3 of it have been filmed. While this shark species could be seen in other deep waters such as the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Oceans, 13 sightings have been recorded off the coast of Japan.