A 21 foot basking shark was accidentally caught off off the coast of Victoria; seems that is the first time this kind of huge shark has been seen near Australia for almost 100 years or so.
Professional fisherman James Owen and his crew caught the this shark in their trawler at Portland, in Victoria on Sunday. They they decided to donate the rare 6,000 plus pound male shark to science.
This knid of shark is a plankton-eating filter feeders and the world’s second-largest fish, behind whale sharks, capable of reaching lengths of nearly 30 plus feet.
Museum Victoria told reporters that this was only the third time it has been able to work with a basking shark in 160 years that is how rare they are in Australian waters.
Scientists have obtained tissue and skin samples for DNA and isotope analysis, which might reveal where the shark came from and what it had been eating.