Science and Technology Blog

In 1976 a explore ship was moored off the shoreline of the Hawaiian island of Oahu. When the team winched up the anchors they discovered a 4.5 meters long shark twisted up in the cable. It looked like nothing they had ever seen.

It was seven years before the creature was officially described and named. Taking their lead from press coverage of the finding, the scientists recommended naming it the Megamouth Shark. The shark’s mouth can be over a meter across – a fifth of the animal’s length.

Since then the Megamouth has proved an mysterious beast, not least because it not often comes shallower than 12 meters, and spend most of its time above 100 meters down. Only 50 have yet been seen, and fewer than half of those have been studied by scientists. A specimen caught in 2009 wound up being cooked.

Source: New Scientist, Image: Bruce Rasner/Rotman/NaturePL