Super Rare 20 Foot Basking Shark Caught In Australia

Fishermen in Australia didn't intend to haul in a massive basking shark on Sunday, but scientists around the world may soon be glad they did. The shark, which measures more than 20 feet long and weighs three tons, belongs to a species that's rarely seen in the Southern hemisphere. Museum Victoria, which acquired the shark after it was accidentally reeled in by a fishing trawler in the western Bass Strait, says it's only encountered three basking shark specimens in the last 160 years. The shark was dead when the fishermen recovered it, Museum Victoria noted on Facebook. The last recorded basking shark capture was in the 1930s, when one was found at Lakes Entrance in the state of Victoria, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.