![]() |
![]() |
||||||||
By Elson T. Elizaga | |||||||||
I.
IDENTIFICATION |
|||||||||
ON THE NIGHT OF FEBRUARY 20, 1998, three fishermen in Macajalar Bay, Cagayan de Oro caught a fish they couldn't identify. A local radio station reported the find the following morning. The fish was later hacked into pieces and consumed that day. Subsequent reports, quoting government sources, said the strange fish was a whale shark. But research conducted by this writer using the Internet revealed that it was a megamouth, an extremely rare species with previously only 10 sightings worldwide. | |||||||||
|
|||||||||
Important
find. Shark
researcher
As expected,
Marie Levine of SRI, who received three photos from this writer,
wrote: "It sure looks like a megamouth shark to me. Will check with
Dr. Leonard Compagno No
question. While waiting for Compagno's response, this writer
received an email on March 19 from Dr. John F. Morrissey, Associate Professor
of the Department of Biology in Hofstra University, Hempstead, New York.
The complete text: "No question! That is megamouth #11! Congratulations!!
If you obtain any additional information about the specimen or its capture,
please let me know. I will inform the members of the Morrissey
was 1997 president of the AES and is one of the editors of the 1997 book
First in the Philippines. Photos sent to Compagno returned to this writer apparently because of technical problems with the server. But on March 21, Compagno wrote back: "I received the three photographs via email. The photos appear to show a large megamouth shark (Megachasma pelagios). Apparently, this is the first recorded discovery of the species in the Philippines. If you have additional photos or other information about the size and sex of the shark, the details of its capture and what happened to it afterwards, please let me know." Compagno's email indicates his position as Curator of Fishes; Head, Shark Research Center, Division of Life Sciences, South African Museum, Cape Town, South Africa. Revised.
On March 30, the Florida Museum of Natural History updated its online
|
|||||||||