Beached or caught in the waters of Torrijos near Cagpo. This shark (or is it a butanding, whale shark, balyena, or monster really?), is said to have been caught by local fishermen in the open sea off Torrijos in 1979 and brought ashore. Other accounts claim it was found by fishermen dying at the shoreline.
Then in the 80s, this balyena, whale was caught in the same waters and brought ashore in Brgy. Cagpo.
Above photos of shark and whale courtesy of Junmel Tan of Torrijos.
This photo shows similar skeleton of a sperm whale beached in Silago, Southern Leyte in 2000 that measured 52 feet in length. The said skeleton is now housed in a temporary shelter for Southern Leyte tourists to see. A permanent edifice with glass casing to be constructed to house the reconstructed bones.
In 1994 the Archaeology Division of the National Museum received a report from a certain Porferio de Guzman of Brgy. Buangan, Torrijos regarding a sperm whale stripped of its flesh, cleaned and kept by Mr. Luciano Matienzo. The complete set of the said whale skeleton measured 43.5 ft. long and was identified by the Museum as belonging to a male sperm whale, a highly specially toothed whale of the species Physeter macrocephalus.
The whale skeleton was purchased by the Museum after further verification for a negotiated price. The whale skeleton is now housed at the NM Building as rare osteological material.
Ngipin! A display case at the National Museum of the Philippines now keeps the Marinduque sperm whale's (Physeter macrocephalus) teeth for viewing (above). Photo: Eli J. Obligacion
Sperm whale at sea. Also enjoy: Sperm whale encounter
