Megamouth Shark #34 - Bayawan City, Southern Oriental Negros, Phillippines

January 26, 2006

Release from: Ian Sala of the Bayawan City Department of Agriculture

This megamouth became entangled in a fishing net at approximately 1 a.m. on January 26, 2006. The Department of Agriculture received the fish at 7 a.m. in Barangay Pagatban about 4 kilometers from the shore. The female specimen was 5 meters in length and weighed 750 kilograms. She was already very weak from the capture and died at 7:15 a.m. There was loss of blood from the gills, however there were no wounds on its back as previously reported. The megamouth must have drowned due to the long entanglement in the fish net. The stomach was opened, revealing very small shrimp that it had been feeding on. After inspection of the remains of this fish, it was buried.

Megamouth #34 - Bayawan City, Southern Oriental Negros, Phillippines
© Angelo Gasendo of Bayawan City