First reports of megamouth shark, megachasma pelagios taylor, compagno & struhsaker, 1983 (Lamniformes, megachasmidae), in peru

Kelez S.; Napuri R.M.; Pfennig A.M.; Martinez O.C.; Carrasco A.T. · Check List (2020) · DOI: 10.15560/16.5.1361

Resumen

Megamouth Shark, Megachasma pelagios Taylor, Compagno & Struhsaker, 1983, is one of the least-known shark species worldwide. We report the encounters of four megamouth sharks: one caught in a driftnet off Piura (November 2016; sex indeterminate), one landed in Los Organos (July 2018; female), one stranded in El Ñuro (July 2018; sex indeterminate, ca 300 m total length), and one caught in a purse seine off Lambayeque (June 2019; female, total length ca 300 cm). These are the first records from Peru and expand the species’ known southern limit by 415 km. With the addition of M. pelagios, there are 67 species of sharks in Peru. © The authors.