Rare shark caught, eaten

A megamouth shark, one of the world's most elusive species, was caught carved up and eaten by fishermen from a town in the Philippines, the environmental conservation group WWF said. So rare are megamouth shark sightings that each find is given a number. This one, caught by fishermen off Donsol, was only the 41^st ever seen in the world. A WWF representative said it was butchered ad its meat sautéed in coconut milk as a local delicacy, against the organisation's advice. The four metre, half tonne mega mouth was snared by fishermen trawling for mackerel off he Bicol peninsula on Luzon island. The species, named for its metre-wide mouth, is a recent scientific discovery. The first specimen was caught off Oahu, Hawaii in 1976, the WWF said. The scientific community had failed it as 20^th century's most significant marine find.
The Hindu, 8^th  April 2009