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Video: Rare megamouth shark filmed off Japan

Japanese fisherman in the Chiba prefecture caught a rare megamouth shark in their net this past week. The fishermen notified local divers to assist them in freeing the extremely rare fish from their nets and were successful as the megamouth shark swam off “vigorously”. Video of the released shark was captured by Japanese diver Hiroyuki Arakawa.

Megamouth sharks are extremely rare. Little more than one hundred specimens have ever been seen and even more rare is to observe these animals alive. Similar to whale sharks and basking sharks, megamouth sharks (Megachasma pelagios) are filter feeders that pose no danger to humans.

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Megamouth