Fishermen in the Philippines accidentally caught and later ate a megamouth shark which is one of the rarest fishes in the world. According to the World Wildlife Fund, there are only 40 others recorded to have been encountered.

The shark caught weighs 1,100 pounds or 500 kg and measures 13 feet or 4 meters with mouth stretching more than three feet wide. The said creature died while struggling in the fishermen’s net on March 30 off Burias Island which is located in the Central Philippines. According to Gregg Yan, the spokesman for WWF-Philippines, the megamouth was caught in 660-foot or 200-meter deep waters, where the endangered whale shark, the world’s largest fish and also a filter-feeder in the Donsol area which is about 185 miles or 300 kilometers southeast of Manila also frequented. The shark was taken to nearby Donsol in Sorsogon Province where it was butchered and eaten, Yan also said.

Yan further stated that a WWF Donsol Project Manager named Elson Aca took pictures of the megemouth and tried to stop dissuade the fishermen from eating it. It is worth knowing though that Shark meat is the main ingredient in a local delicacy.

In 1976, the first megamouth shark, or megachasma pelagios, was caught off the Hawaiian island of Oahu, particularly about 25 miles off the coast of Kaneohe, Hawaii, when it became entangled in the sea anchor of a United States Navy ship. This prompted the scientists to create an entirely new family and genus of sharks. It has been called as the most significant marine discovery of the 20th century. The megamouths are docile filter-feeders with wide, blubbery mouths.

According to Yan, the megamouth found in Burias revealed that it was feeding itself with shrimp larvae. He also said that the fish was tagged as the “Megamouth 41″ by the Florida Museum of Natural History as it is the 41st megamouth recorded in the world. In the Philippines, it was the eighth megamouth encountered in the Philippine seas. Four were caught in Cagayan de Oro, and one each in Negros, Iloilo and Cebu.

Project manager Elson Aca mentioned that the presence of two of the world’s three filter-feeding together with manta rays and dolphins shows that the region’s marine ecosystem was still relatively healthy and should continue to be protected.

Yan also urged fishermen who may later meet the rare shark to report to their encounter to authorities or the WWF immediately.

The rare Megamouths shark have also been encountered in Japan, California, Taiwan, Brazil, Indonesia, Senegal, Ecuador, Mexico, Australia and South Africa.