Description of a juvenile megamouth shark, Megachasma pelagios, caught off Brazil

A juvenile male megamouth shark was caught by a commercial longline vessel off Brazil. This specimen is the only juvenile megamouth examined and the only one from the Atlantic Ocean. Megamouth shark is one of the rarest sharks in the world. Only 14 specimens have been reported since its description in 1983 by Taylor et al. All previous specimens examined have been adults from the Pacific and Indian Oceans. It appears that the species is cosmopolitan.