MANILA (AFP) – A megamouth shark, one of the world's most elusive species, was caught, carved up and eaten by fishermen from a town in the Philippines, the environmental conservation group WWF said Tuesday.
So rare are megamouth shark sightings that each find is given a number -- this one, caught by fishermen from the coastal town of Donsol, was only the 41st ever seen or captured in the world.
A handout photo released on April 7, 2009 by WWF shows experts measuring a megamouth shark caught by fishermen off the Donsol marine resort in the Philippines. The shark, one of the world's most elusive species, was later carved up and eaten by fishermen, the environmental conservation group said Tuesday. (AFP/HO)But Elson Aca, a Donsol WWF representative, said it was butchered and its meat sauteed in coconut milk as a local delicacy, against the organisation's advice.
The four-metre (13-foot), half-tonne (1,100-pound) megamouth was snared by fishermen trawling for mackerel off the Bicol peninsula on Luzon island.
The species, which is named after its metre-wide mouth, is a fairly recent scientific discovery. The first specimen was caught off Oahu, Hawaii in 1976, the WWF said.
The scientific community hailed it as the 20th century's most significant marine find, it added. Together with the whale shark it is one of only three filter-feeding shark species in the world.
It is classified by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature as "data deficient" because so few have ever been studied.
Ironically Donsol has earned a global reputation for marine conservation, after campaigners convinced the locals to stop butchering giant whale sharks which use the nearby waters to feed.
The town prides itself as the whale shark capital of the world and marine tourism is a key money earner.
The Philippines sits at the apex of a so-called Coral Triangle, considered by experts as a world centre for marine bio-diversity.
Ultra-Rare Shark Found, Eaten
National Geographic News 7 Apr 09;
April 7, 2009—In just a short time, one of the rarest sharks in the world went from swimming in Philippine waters to simmering in coconut milk.
The 13-foot-long (4-meter-long) megamouth shark (pictured), caught on March 30 by mackerel fishers off the city of Donsol, was only the 41st megamouth shark ever found, according to WWF-Philippines.
Fishers brought the odd creature—which died during its capture—to local project manager Elson Aca of WWF, an international conservation nonprofit.
Aca immediately identified it as a megamouth shark and encouraged the fishers not to eat it.
But the draw of the delicacy was too great: The 1,102-pound (500-kilogram) shark was butchered for a shark-meat dish called kinuout.
"While it is sad that this rare megamouth shark was ultimately lost, the discovery highlights the incredible biodiversity found in the Donsol area and the relatively good health of the ecosystem," Yokelee Lee, WWF-US program officer for the Coral Triangle, said in an email.
The Coral Triangle, which spans Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Solomon Islands, and Timor-Leste (East Timor), is home to the richest concentration of marine life—including iridescent corals—in the world, according to WWF.
"It is essential that we continue working with the government and local community on the sustainable management of Donsol's fisheries resources for the benefit of whale sharks, megamouth sharks, and the local community," Lee said.
The megamouth shark species, discovered in 1976 off Oahu, Hawaii, was so bizarre that scientists had to create a new family and genus to classify it. With its giant mouth but tiny teeth, megamouth, like the whale shark, is a filter feeder that preys on tiny animals and appears to be no danger to humans.
Only 40 megamouth sharks, including 7 in the Philippines, have been found since the initial discovery. The shark is so rare that the International Union for Conservation of Nature lists the megamouth species as "data deficient."
(Related shark pictures: "Rare "Prehistoric" Shark Photographed Alive".)
Scientists who examined Megamouth 41—the Philippine specimen's official name, bestowed by the Florida Museum of Natural History—before it was eaten found facial scars from past run-ins with gill nets. The shark's last meal was shrimp larvae.
Other shark species in Donsol are valued for conservation rather than consumption: The region hosts a successful ecotourism project that allows people to swim with whale sharks, according to WWF.
—Christine Dell'Amore
Rare megamouth shark caught in Philippines
WWF 8 Apr 09;
Donsol, Philippines: An extremely rare megamouth shark was caught by Filipino fishermen, marking only the 41st time the species has been seen in the 33 years since its discovery and giving new insight into the elusive shark’s behaviour.
Fishermen based in Donsol were trawling for mackerel along the eastern coast of Burias Isle on the morning of 30 March when they caught a large shark from a depth of approximately 200 meters.
The shark was brought to shore in Barangay Dancalan in Donsol, Sorsogon and WWF Donsol Project Manager Elson Aca immediately arrived to assess the haul and identified it as a megamouth shark – considered the world’s rarest shark.
Megamouth 41, as the Florida Museum of Natural History has named the Donsol shark, measured four meters and weighed an estimated 500 kg.
Last week’s megamouth encounter underscores the importance of the Donsol-Masbate region – part of the Coral Triangle – as a haven for rare marine life, according to WWF Philippines.
The discovery follows last month’s rescue by WWF of a 38 cm baby whale shark – considered the world's smallest of its kind ever discovered.
"The presence of two of the world's three filter feeding sharks warrants special attention for the Donsol-Masbate region," Aca said. "Whale and megamouth sharks, manta rays, dolphins and other charismatic giants indicate that the region's ecosystem is still relatively healthy.”
“By protecting megafauna, we help maintain the dynamic balance of our seas, and ensure the entire ecosystem's resilience and natural productivity,” Aca said.
WWF works with a host of partners to protect the megafauna of the Coral Triangle which is considered a major center for marine biodiversity.
WWF's satellite tagging initiatives have already shown that pelagic filter feeders such as whale sharks and manta rays regularly prowl through the region.
The megamouth (Megachasma pelagios) is a fairly recent scientific discovery, with only 40 recorded encounters worldwide until the latest find.
The first specimen was caught off Oahu, Hawaii in 1976. The discovery led to the creation of an entirely new family and genus - prompting the scientific community to hail it as the 20th century's most significant marine find and rivaling the rediscovery of the coelacanth in 1938.
The megamouth shark is so named for its enormous maw - almost a meter
wide and lined with a brilliant silver band to attract planktonic prey. It has been found roaming throughout the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans. Males average four
meters while females - which give birth to live young – can grow to five meters long.
Relatively little was known of their habits until researchers fitted a megamouth – the sixth one discovered – with a pair of ultrasonic transmitters and tracked it for two days in 1990. The research indicated that the sharks spend the daytime in waters up to one kilometre deep and surface only at night to feed on plankton, small fish and jellyfish - usually at a depth of around 15 meters.
Eight megamouth sharks, a full fifth of all recorded encounters, have been caught in Philippine waters. Four were caught in Cagayan de Oro and one each in Negros, Iloilo and Cebu. Megamouth 41 is the first megamouth shark to have been caught in Luzon, which is the Philippines’ largest island.
Sadly and despite protests from Aca, the megamouth shark caught near Donsol was later butchered and eaten. Its stomach contents revealed it was feeding on shrimp larvae.
For more than a decade, WWF has worked in Donsol to establish community-based whale shark eco-tourism, transforming the once sleepy town into one of the Bicol region's busiest revenue generators.
Current initiatives funded by WWF-Denmark and supported by the local government include researching whale shark migration routes and numbers through state-of-the-art photo-identification and satellite tagging techniques.
The waters around Donsol are part of the Sulu-Sulawesi Seas ecoregion, one of WWF's Global 200 ecoregions — a science-based global ranking of the world's most biologically outstanding habitats and the regions on which WWF concentrates its efforts. The also make up part of the Coral Triangle, a major area of marine biodiversity.
Leaders of the six nations that make up the Coral Triangle – Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Timor Leste –will meet on May 15 in Manado, Indonesia for the World Oceans Conference where they will announce a comprehensive set of actions to protect ecosystems and food security in the region.