Jaime Rendon and some fellow fisherman came face to face with something they had never seen before!
They were about a mile off the Los Cabos coast of Mexico when Rendon, felt a strong pull on his pole.
After a few minutes, Rendon was able to pull in what could only be described as a sea creature! Check out the huge fish!
It reportedly had smooth, white skin and was really puffy.
In an interview, Rendon said that the eyes were what were most shocking to him.
Everyone on board thought that they had captured something rare and unique.
But, with a little investigation and a few photos that were sent to the Pacific Shark Research Center, they were able to find out that the captured creature was just an albino swell shark.
The shark reportedly had a condition called leucism, which causes the skin to lose its normal pigmentation.
Turns out that swell sharks will swallow huge amounts of water when they get threatened by a predator.
So, that would explain the puffy look they saw when they got the shark on board!
Swell sharks have a swelling sack under their stomach – once they ‘balloon’ up, they are much harder for a predator to swallow.
Jaime and the other fisherman all decided it was best to release the shark back into the water! Bravo!
I love a good discovery story that doesn’t end with the animal’s death!
It was rare indeed to see the albino shark – and even more rare that the kind fisherman decided to allow it to live!
Share away, people!