How to Spot a Megamouth Shark
The megamouth shark (Megachasma pelagios) is a very rare shark species. In fact, the first specimen of the megamouth shark was found in 1976 by a United States Naval vessel off the island of Oahu, Hawaii. Seeing these sharks in the wild is quite rare and not many scientists or marine biologists have ever seen a megamouth shark. If you're curious about this unusual creature, here's what you need to know.
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Instructions
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Take note of the range of the megamouth shark. This rare shark lives in most tropical marine waters, including the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. Megamouth sharks have been spotted near California, Hawaii, Brazil, Japan, western Australia and other locales.
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Learn about the habitat of this species of shark. Megamouth sharks are sharks of the open ocean. They live at great depths, often ranging from 150 to 1000 m, which accounts for the rare sightings of the megamouth shark.
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Marvel at the megamouth shark's large size. This particular shark can be up to 5.5 m in length. Adult females are larger in size than adult males.
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Observe the appearance of the megamouth shark. This odd shark has a very large and soft head with a broad and rounded tip (snout). The mouth is up to 1 m in width and contains many small, hooked teeth. The mouth is also colored silver inside. The upper parts of the megamouth shark are gray to brown to bluish black, and the underparts are typically a light gray color. This shark has two dorsal fins as well as an asymmetrical tail that has a larger upper lobe.
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Learn about the megamouth shark's behavior. These very large sharks are slow swimmers. They typically are found in deeper depths during the daytime, and come up to shallow water (10 to 15 m) at night to feed. Because of the deep depths in which this shark typically lives, sightings are rare.
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Search the Internet for websites like Sharkmans-World (see link in Resources) that have information and photographs of this unusual shark.
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