February 21,1998

Megamouth sharks are plankton-feeder deep sea animals. It is very rare to meet and observe them near the surface where they usually come only at night, following small crustacean preys. Sperm whales are usually considered squid feeders but there are a few notes about small deep sea sharks’ presence in their diet. There was a sighting of Megachasma pelagios (the eleventh) in Cagayan de Oro (Philippines) on 21st February 1998, this is one of the few sightings in open sea as opposed to animals that were stranded or caught in fishing nets.

Pietro Pecchioni
DEMO Environment and Territory
mailto:%20bixxi@tin.it

Carla Benoldi
Department of Zoology, University of Milano, Milano, Italy.
mailto:%20cbenoldi@cibra.unipv.it