An extremely rare whale shark was spotted at the coast of Ganjam district here on Sunday. It was found in unconscious state on the Pati Sonepur sea beach.
locals rescued the fish and released it into the sea. This was for the third time the whale shark, weighing around 400 kg, was found off the Ganjam coast since 2010.
The whale shark was sometimes found in Pati Sonepur and Gopalpur sea beach. However, no arrangement has been made by the forest department for protection of such species and collecting more data about it, said Berhampur Forest Division Officer Ashish Kumar Behera.
The whale shark had been first spotted in Gopalpur in 2010 and was found second time near the Gopalpur Port in 2016.
The whale shark known as Rhincodon typus is a slow-moving and filter- feeding carpet shark of extant fish species. It is found in open water of the tropical oceans and is rarely found in water below 21 °C.
