Pregnant Megamouth Shark Seen for the First Time in the Philippines
There has never been a sighting of a pregnant megamouth shark before. Last month, a female of this extremely uncommon deep water species washed ashore on a Philippine beach.
Six pups were inside the megamouth shark (Megachasma pelagios) but sadly one deceased juvenile shark was discovered close to mom before we could see this.
Megamouths are ovoviviparous meaning that the finding demonstrates this. They form in eggs that hatch within the moms who then give birth to live offspring.
The mother megamouth was discovered on November 14 in Barangay Ipil, Dipaculao, Aurora Province.
Oceana.org states that she was an incredible 5.6 meters (18.4 feet) long, which implies her “mega” mouth was about 1.3 meters wide.
The National Museum of the Philippines (NMP) posted images of the astonishing find on Facebook saying, LOOK! The world’s first documented instance of a pregnant megamouth shark.
Scientists will get additional insight into the physiology and behaviors of this enigmatic fish thanks to this finding. Like many other deep-sea animals researchers believe megamouth sharks spend most of their time underground sometimes reaching depths of 4,600 meters (15,100 feet) and that they only come to the surface at night.
Since its discovery in 1976, there have apparently been fewer than 300 sightings of this extremely uncommon and unique species.
The Philippines is a major home for megamouth sharks ranking second only to Taiwan in the overall number of reports.
Out of the more than 500 species of sharks, the megamouth is one of only three that are filter feeders. The other two are the basking shark (Cetorhinus maximus) and the whale shark (Rhincodon typus) both of which swim with their mouths open to capture planktonic food.
The NMP received the six megamouth shark pups that were left for additional investigation and study. According to the museum, they will be repaired and kept so that they might later be a part of displays and reference collections. We are eager to learn more about this amazing species.
