Japan: Megamouth shark caught in nets due to earthquake?

(Baonghean.vn) - In recent days, Japanese online news sites have been abuzz with news that fishermen in Mie Prefecture caught a giant shark.

A Japanese fisherman with 60 years of experience said, "This is the first time I've seen a shark this big." (Photo: Grapee.jp)

This shark, measuring 5 meters in length and weighing 1 ton, lives at a depth of 200 meters on the ocean floor and is known as the "ghost shark" or "bigmouth shark".

This fish species was first discovered in Hawaii, USA, in 1976, and in Japan in 1984 in Shizuoka Prefecture.

This fish is very rare; it's only spotted once every few years.

This fish was caught on April 13th, leading many to suspect that it escaped after detecting a small electrical current in the seabed before the earthquake struck Kumamoto Prefecture.

Surprisingly, this shark meat is edible, yet it's sold at an extremely low price. A megamouth shark weighing 1 ton sells for only 4 million VND, or just 40,000 VND per kilogram, which is even cheaper than baitfish.

Many people who have eaten this shark meat say, "They're not suitable for eating because the meat is very bland and tasteless."

This rare fish species certainly holds many mysteries that we don't yet know about within its ecosystem.

Whether this shark's capture was related to the earthquake remains unproven. However, rumors surrounding this species of megamouth shark continue to pique people's curiosity.

Le Quyen

(Osaka, Japan)

(According to Grapee.jp)