Whale shark ‘a piece of history’

‘To provide a better environment to citizens and foreign delegations’ coming to view the whale shark – hauled to the jetty on Tuesday – the administration of Karachi Fish Harbour shifted the massive 40-foot carcass to the zoological museum on Thursday.
Taking the fish carcass into its custody, the Karachi Fish Harbour Authority (KFHA) shifted the globally declared endangered shark species to the Zoological Museum Karachi. The fish carcass, with blood still oozing, was placed on the floor under a makeshift marquee but as there was no ice to preserve the body, a foul smell soon enveloped the entire area. The historic Natural History Museum, commonly known as Zoological Museum, was established in 1960s under the Zoological Survey Department at the Karachi Fish Harbour, West Wharf Karachi.
The museum has the largest collection of the country’s preserved fauna and precious skeletons of marine species as well as scores of invertebrates for research purposes. Talking with Pakistan Today, KFHA Spokesman Saghir Ahmed said the main purpose of shifting the dead whale shark was to “save” the harbour environment and provide a “peaceful place” for foreign delegations and a large numbers of people who were coming to the fish harbour to take a look at the giant shark.
“A team from the Centre of Excellence Marine Biology of Karachi University had visited the fish harbour and taken samples from the dead shark for laboratory tests,” he said. “A foreign delegation including an expert from the USA and three more from the UK will also come for research and making a documentary on the marine vertebrate.”
Ahmed said that KFHA Director Operation Shamsul Haq Baloch with his team completed the operation of shifting the carcass. The 40-feet long and around 4,000-kg heavy dead whale shark was brought to the Karachi Fish Harbour on February 7 by a fisherman named Dilawar Hussain, who had towed the fish to the jetty from around 50 miles away off Arabian Sea coast and reportedly sold off the carcass at Rs 170,000. It had taken more than six hours for two cranes to fish out the enormous shark form the sea.
Considered the largest extant fish species in the world, the whale shark (Rhincodon typus) is a slow-moving filter feeding shark. The largest individual confirmed on record had a length of 12.65 metres (41.50 feet) and weighed over 21.5 tonnes. Unconfirmed reports suggest the presence of considerably larger whale sharks.