Fishermen have caught a rare catch, a 13-foot long female megamouth shark. The shark nearly 1,500 pounds was caught off the coast of Japan. The shark is so rare that the recent catch in Japan marks the 58th sighting of it till date.

The shark was dissected in front of thousands of onlookers at the Marine Science Museum in Shizuoka City Thursday. Megamouth shark was first time caught off Oahu, Hawaii, in 1976. As the name suggests, this shark has huge mouth, almost a meter wide, and is lined with silver band to attract its prey.

"The megamouth shark, as its vernacular name indicates, has a huge mouth that is terminal and extends behind the eyes", said the Florida Museum of Natural History.

Female megamouth shark is bigger in size than male shark. It can be as long as 15 feet and a male megamouth has an average length of 13 feet. According to the WWF, it is found roaming in Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans.

The recently caught shark has been caught from a depth of 2,600 feet. They generally remain in depths only and come to surface at night for feed. This shark is not considered to be a very active species as well as not counted among good swimmers. One of the main reasons for it could be its flabby body, soft fins and lack of keels and weak calcification.

Its appearance is such that it may seem an alien to many. Its huge mouth, head and massive size makes it apart from other sharks. It does not catches large preys rather it keeps its mouth open and collects planktons and other small sea creature.