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Talk about the catch of the day.
A
Chinese fisherman caught a massive whale shark in the waters off Fujian
province over the weekend. Photos of the estimated 14-and-a-half-foot,
2-ton fish being transported to market through the streets of Xiaozhi
have caused a bit of a stir in China, where the whale shark is
endangered — and illegal to catch and sell.
But
according to local media reports, Capt. Cai Chengzhu claims his fresh
catch was an accident — and that the giant shark became stuck in his net
and died while the crew was trying to release it.
“It’s
believed that the giant creature broke the net and got inside to eat the
fish we caught,” Chengzhu told local media, according to the
Shanghaiist.
Chengzhu
said he was hoping to get between 10,000 and 20,000 yuan for his fishy
freight before he was stopped by Fujian fishery officials, the
Independent reports.
“It was
really unfortunate and we did our best to free it,” he said, according
to the Daily Mail. “But having caught it and because it was already
dead, it seemed a shame to waste it.”
Some
critics quickly cast doubt on Chengzhu’s fish tale. Whale sharks are
known as filter feeders and would not normally break into a fisherman’s
net to eat fish.
The whale
shark (or Rhincodon typus) was first discovered in South Africa in
1829. It is the largest known extant fish species and can get as long as
30 feet — twice as big as the one Chengzhu snared — and can live up to
100 years.
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