Megamouth Shark

deepwater shark · filter feeder · rare discovery

Huge mouth, small shark. The megamouth shark is about 13 to 18 feet long, which makes it the smallest of the three sharks that filter-feed on plankton, way smaller than the giant whale shark.

Rubbery lips and face. You can recognize a megamouth by its giant head and strange rubbery lips that look unlike any other shark in the ocean.

Mouth wide open. Like its filter-feeding cousins, the megamouth swims through the water with its huge mouth open to catch tiny plankton, jellyfish, and shrimp larvae floating by.

Rarely seen giant. Only about 296 megamouth sharks have ever been spotted or caught since scientists first discovered them in 1976, making them one of the ocean's most mysterious creatures.

Eats ocean snacks. Instead of hunting big fish, megamouth sharks munch on krill, jellyfish, shrimp larvae, squat lobsters, and crab larvae floating in the deep ocean.