Curious onlookers view the carcass of the whale shark at the Parit Jawa Fishermen’s Jetty in Johor August 17, 2019. — Bernama pic

MUAR, Aug 17 — A whale shark carcass weighing five tonnes was found floating in the waters of Tanjung Tohor this morning before being taken by fishermen to Parit Jawa Fishermen’s Jetty, here today.

Muar District Fisheries Office head, Mohd Faris Adman said the Rhincodon typus species whale shark carcass found about seven nautical miles away was brought ashore around 2pm today.

He said the cause of death was still unknown and it would be sent to the Turtle and Marine Ecosystem Centre (Tumec) Rantau Abang, Terengganu for post-mortem.

“The whale shark is estimated to be 6.1 metres long and 1.5 metres wide while its gender is yet to be identified, but the Resource Protection Unit will open an investigation paper to find out the cause of death including complete information on the age, sex and actual size of the fish.

“We believe the whale shark was lost, it may have strayed from its original habitat as the fishermen have never seen the species here before,” he told reporters here, today.

Mohd Faris said the whale shark would be preserved once the post-mortem process was completed.

He said the whale shark was one of the endangered marine species and advised fishermen to contact the relevant agency immediately if they came across such species.

Earlier, the image of the fish went viral on social media attracting many people to come and see the animal besides taking pictures of the carcass. — Bernama