Hardly Ever Seen: The Alien-Looking Megamouth Shark Washes Ashore in the Philippines.

The rare and rather strange-looking Megamouth Shark (Megachasma pelagios) was discovered in 1979 when one was hauled out of the ocean by a US Navy vessel. Before this time, scientists could not even confirm they existed. They live in the very depths of the sea and are rarely seen by the human eye. This one, however, somehow washed ashore on Pioduran, Albay, in the Philippines.

These round-headed creatures with an unbelievable 50 rows of tiny sharp teeth have so far been seen 15 times in the Philippines and a number of times in Japan as well. But overall, they have only ever been spotted about 66 times in the world.

Villagers used a stretcher and iron rods to carry the rare 15-foot (4.5-m) Megamouth shark.

The US Navy vessel accidentally dragged up the first megamouth shark discovered in 1976.

The creature was nicknamed “Toothless” because it looked like the nightfury in How to Train Your Dragon.

Last June 2014, a fisherman caught a megamouth shark in the shore of Barangay Cugman in Cagayan de Oro City.

The fisherman claimed the animal died while struggling in the net, but was already weak at the time.

Here’s a video of a Megamouth shark found in Japan:

These mysterious creatures can grow 17 feet or longer and apparently they don’t taste too bad. The last one discovered, according to Marine Wildlife Watch, was eaten by the people who found it.

Although you probably may not want to meet one of these creatures in the water, they are of the harmless, plankton-eating variety of sharks, just like the basking shark and whale shark. Of all the weird and wonderful creatures I’ve seen in the world, this one will surely rank in the top ten.

Source: Mirror.Co.Uk, DailyMail, WeReBlog