One of the 26 sharks on WAnimals
Cartilaginous fish · Lamniformes · Megachasmidae
Megamouth Shark
Megachasma pelagios
The species is abundant and widely distributed; it faces no significant short-term risk. See full glossary
The megamouth shark, wide-mouthed shark or big-mouth shark is a species of lamniform fish of the family Megachasmidae. It is a rare species that was discovered on 15 November 1976, when at Kaneohe (Hawaii) the crew of the ship AFB-14 found a specimen tangled in a sea anchor. Its scientific description as a new species was published in 1983 by Taylor, Compagno and Struhsaker.
Weight
600 kg – 1.2 t
Size
4 m – 5.6 m
Lifespan
100 years
Diet
Carnivore
Feeds mainly on other animals.
Activity
Irregular activity
Active at irregular times, by day or night depending on circumstances.
Social structure
Solitary
Lives and hunts alone, joining others only to breed.
Sighting difficulty
Easy
Fun facts
- GeneralDiscovered in 1976; it filters plankton through a mouth over 1 m wide.
- It was discovered by accident in 1976, when one became tangled in the anchor of a United States Navy vessel off Hawaii: it was one of the most surprising zoological finds of the twentieth century, a shark of more than four metres that was completely unknown.
- Since then little more than a hundred individuals have been recorded worldwide, and every sighting is still scientific news.
- It makes daily vertical migrations: it spends the day several hundred metres down and rises at night into surface layers following the krill and plankton it filter-feeds on.
Life cycle & biology
- Skeleton type
- Vertebrate - cartilaginous skeleton (fish)
- Habitat & environment
- Deep ocean water and the scattering layer
Sources consulted: https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megachasma_pelagios
Where to find it
See its range on the interactive mapWhere to watch it
Parks and dive sites where this species has been documented.
Related species
Other species in the catalogue with the most in common with Megamouth Shark — same habitat, park, country, tags or family.
Red Lionfish
Pterois volitans
White-spotted Puffer
Arothron hispidus
Clown Triggerfish
Balistoides conspicillum
Cuvier's Beaked Whale
Ziphius cavirostris
Black Angler
Antennarius pictus
Harlequin Snake Eel
Myrichthys colubrinus
Keep exploring
Based on what we already know about megamouth shark.
Comments
Share an experience, a fun fact or a tip for seeing the megamouth shark.
Be the first to comment.