A fisherman in the Mekong Delta province of Bac Lieu caught a 4-ton whale shark Thursday and brought it ashore for burial.

Nguyen Van Sang of Ganh Hao town said the whale shark had struggled in his net but was dead by the time he pulled it in.

He and other fisherman spent more than 18 hours to tow the animal ashore to give it a ceremonial burial. Vietnamese fishermen revere whales and believe the animals bring them luck at sea.

The 6-meter-long whale shark has been taken to a shrine where locals worship dead whales. Huge crowds of local people have come to see the corpse.

It is the third whale shark to be netted at Ganh Hao so far this year.

The whale shark (Rhincodon typus) is a slow-moving filter feeding shark, the largest living fish species. The largest confirmed individual was 12.65 meters in length. The heaviest weighed more than 36 tons, but unconfirmed claims report considerably larger whale sharks.

Source: Tuoi Tre