A Megamouth shark was cut open in public in the Japanese city of Shizuoka for scientific purposes. The four-meter monster reportedly had a public autopsy just outside the city's Marine Science Museum.
According to Daily Mail, about 1,500 onlookers took the chance in snapping their cameras and smartphones to get photos and videos of the public autopsy of the Megamouth shark that was hauled from a depth of close to 800m below sea.
The public autopsy of the Megamouth shark was done to give scientists greater understanding of the biology of the estranged creature, which according to marine biologists, they know very little about.
Although the intention of the public autopsy was good, many found the gesture disturbing.
"Why can't we just leave things alone?" one commented on the Daily Mail feature of the Megamouth shark.
"To the Japanese this is just food, they don't seem to have empathy with animals. If they were cutting up 'Hello Kitty' there would be howls of protest," another one wrote.
"The Japanese have a very strange concept of life. 'Its very rare' but let's kill it anyway so we can poke and prod it," another netizen opined.
The size and the grotesque appearance of the beast, especially its quite large mouth, have always been the distinct qualities that make it unique.
Experts claim that the Megamouth shark can grow in length to as long as five meters.
The estranged creature is believed to spend most of its life swimming at great depths only rising to the surface at night to feed.
A website on the distinct shark's biology says the Megamouth shark's main prey is shrimp-like krill, but it also feeds on planktonic animals such as euphausiid shrimps, copepods, and the Pancake Jellyfish.
This is said to be the 13th time that a Megamouth shark was caught in Japan, and it is the 58th sighting ever of the fish all over the world.
The first instance when a Megamouth was caught was at a depth of 165m off the coast of Hawaii, when its teeth became caught in the anchor of a large research vessel, The Museum of Western Australia said.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
