The World’s Rarest Shark

Did you ever wonder if there is such a thing as a rare shark? Are you one of those people who actually believe that because sharks are the beasts of the ocean their population has nowhere to go but up? Well, it is time for you to discover things that you never guessed could possibly happen to sharks. Let us start of by getting to know the world’s rarest shark.

                The most common name for the rarest shark in the world is “megamouth”. The name was given to the creature after its big, blubbery mouth which it uses to filter and eat food. It was first found in Hawaii in the year 1976 which forced scientists to create and introduce a whole new family and genus of sharks. The megamouth shark belongs to the order of lamniformes belonging to the family of megachasmida.

                There were and still are debates about the origin of the Megachasmidae family and that of its relationship with the other shark families. The most popular theories about the megamouth’s family’s origin is that the family evolved and formed a monophyletic (having on common ancestor) with the more famous basking sharks. However, most recent studies suggests that all modern sharks have only one common ancestry, the Megachasma pelagios, and that the lamniformes order has independently evolved and gained the filter feeding mode.

                You can clearly differentiate a megamouth from an ordinary, regular shark simply by looking at its appearance. The megamouth has a characteristic bulbous head owing to its massive and broad mouth extends behind its eyes. Unlike most sharks like the Great White Shark, the megamouth has a very short snout but is rounded broadly. If you see a megamouth, you will see that its colors are blackish brown (for the majority of the body) with its pectoral and pelvic fins being white.

                Though the megamouth has fifty rows of very small numerous teeth on each of its jaw, only three of the rows are functional and are used often. This is because the megamouth is a docile filter-feeder and only eats small prey. There is no definite proof as to the real behavior and food habits of megamouths as there were only 41 reported sightings of this shark. However, based on observations and its physical attributes, many specialists believe that megamouth sharks use their big mouth to trap and eat aggregations of euphasiid shrimp (krill) and many other small sea animals.

                There was only one registered predator for a megamouth and it was a sperm whale. This happened in Manado, Indonesia in August 30, 1998. Probably another factor for the decrease in the megamouth population is its worst parasite, the Cookicutter shark. With almost all the seen and experimented megamouth (41 so far) showing scars of a Cookiecutter shark bite in the different parts of their body, it is no wonder that megamouth sharks become severely harmed and weakened making them more prone to fatal attacks or accidents.

                Megamouth sharks are considered “Data Deficient” by the IUCN World Conservation Union because of the lack of information and population status. However, scientist who are aware of the existence of such a shark moves to protect them.