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Animal profile

Megamouth Shark

Megachasma pelagios

ChondrichthyesOpen ocean, apparently moving between deep water by day and shallower water at nightLeast Concern

Field profile

The megamouth is a large filter-feeding shark, reaching about five metres, with a huge rubbery mouth and a flabby body. It was unknown to science until 1976. Fewer than 300 individuals have ever been recorded, most of them caught incidentally or stranded.

Scope note

This is an editorial profile, not a diagnostic field-identification guide or a substitute for current conservation assessments. Follow the cited sources on each fact for the evidence trail.

Published field notes

2025-04-04

Megamouth Shark

A five-metre shark stayed unknown until 1976

The megamouth shark entered science by accident, tangled in a US Navy vessel's sea anchor off Oahu in November 1976. It was so unlike anything described that it required a new genus and a new family, not merely a new species.

Read with evidence →

Megamouth Shark | Daily Animal Facts