An extremely rare deep-sea shark was found dead along the shoreline of Sitio Iget, Barangay San Jose De Oro, Araceli, Palawan, last Saturday morning, April 20.
Known as megamouth shark, scientifically named as Megachasma pelagios, it was identified and confirmed by Jean Utzurrum, a shark biologist and a co-author of the book, “Pating ka ba?”
“This species is typically a deep sea species, reaching up to 1500-metrr depths. It is one of [the] three filter feeding shark species in the world. Because these are deep sea fishes, it is very rare to see them in alive in the wild,” said Utzurrum.
The shark was measured 11.5 feet in body length and 16 feet caudal length, and was examined by Divine Ventilacion, municipal agriculture officer of Araceli, Palawan.
According to Ventilacion, some fishermen saw the shark a day earlier swimming slowly along the coastal area of the barangay. The following morning the shark eventually died.
Previously, a dead dugong was also found along the shoreline of Barangay Poblacion last February 2019 and in Sitio Tagaytay, Barnagay Dalawayan last September 6.
