Beijing, Feb. 24 -- An eight-meter-long whale shark, weighing 3,000 kilograms, was recently caught in the sea off Zhuhai.

The whale shark, which is the largest fish in the world, was caught accidentally. It was later sold at 4 yuan (50 U.S. cents) a kilogram.

Fishermen said the whale shark was dying when caught. "If the whale shark was caught alive, our boat might be pulled into the water," a Guangzhou Daily report quoted a fisherman as saying Wednesday.

An official with the city's fishery administration said the whale shark is rarely seen at the mouth of the Pearl River estuary. It is listed as a State-protected Class B animal at a conference of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species organized by the United Nations in 2002.

The convention took effect in 2003.

"Though the species is not listed on our country's namelist of protected animals, but it was on Guangdong's namelist of protected animals and should be protected," said an aquatic expert.

The whale shark is not a whale but has a mouth up to 1.4 meters wide. It has a wide, flat head, a rounded snout, small eyes, five very large gill slits, two dorsal fins (on its back) and two pectoral fins (on its sides).

The whale shark has distinctive light-yellow markings (random stripes and dots) on its very thick dark gray skin.

Its skin is up to 10 centimeters thick. Whale sharks are solitary creatures. Groups of whale sharks have rarely been seen.

Whale sharks are found worldwide in the warm oceans around the equator. They are not, however, found in the Mediterranean Sea.