A megamouth shark has washed ashore in the Philippines, according to Marine Wildlife Watch of the Philippines, a marine creature so rare that it has been documented fewer than 70 times in the wild.
The 4.57 metre specimen was dead when discovered by fishermen at Burias Pass, located between the Albay and Masbate provinces of central Philippines.
So rare is the megamouth shark - or Megachasma pelagios - that up until recently some experts still considered it a cryptid, an unidentified creature whose existence cannot be scientifically substantiated.
The shark was first identified in Hawaii in 1976, when a U.S. Navy vessel snared one in its anchor, approximately 48 kilometres off the coast of Oahu, Hawaii.
According to a 1990 study, the shark spends most of its time at depths of 400-500 metres.
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