TACLOBAN CITY – A whale shark was decapitated by the propeller of a cargo ship in Sogod Bay in San Ricardo town in Southern Leyte province.
San Ricardo municipal
agriculturist Lauro Elejerde, Jr. said the incident happened recently. The name
of the cargo vessel was not made public.
“The whale shark’s body was
totally separated and it's very obvious that a propeller of the cargo vessel
slashed the marine mammal,” Elejerde told the Philippine News Agency in a phone
interview.
The four-meter-long shark was
found just a few meters away from Benit Port, the gateway of Leyte Island from
Mindanao. Cargo vessels have regular trips between Southern Leyte and Surigao.
Elejerde said it took two
hours for divers from the Philippine Coast Guard to pull the carcass to the
shore since the upper limb sank to the sea floor. The Philippine Coast Guard
buried the dead shark after collecting tissue samples.
The Port of Benit is located
at the opening of Sogod Bay, a migratory area of whale sharks feasting on
zooplankton, according to Elejerde.
Whale sharks have been
attracting divers in Sogod Bay over the years.
Whale shark is a large elasmobranch of the family Rhincodontidae characterized externally by a broad, flattened head, a huge and nearly terminal mouth, very large gill slits, three prominent longitudinal ridges on its upper flanks, a large first dorsal fin, a semi-lunate caudal fin and a unique pattern of light spots and stripes on a dark background. (Sarwell Meniano)
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