BUENOS AIRES, March 1 — Two fishermen found the remains of an Argentine man who mysteriously disappeared 10 days ago inside a shark they caught, investigators said.

Diego Barria, a 32-year-old oil industry employee who disappeared on February 18, was identified by a forearm tattoo.

Two fishermen caught three school sharks which are listed as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, near the town of Comodoro Rivadavia, around 1,500 kilometres south of Buenos Aires.

The day Barria disappeared, he had gone out to ride his quad bike.

He was seen close to midnight heading home but never arrived.

Two days later, his destroyed quad bike and helmet were found in a nearby coastal area, but with no sign of Barria.

Regional police chief Cristian Ansaldo said there was no firm theory about how he died but that that he likely could have crashed into rocks and was swept away by the sea.

When the fishermen cut open the sharks to remove their entrails, they found pieces of "skin, fat and human flesh” inside one, said police.

Authorities also released an audio recording in which one of the fishermen told a cousin about his find.

"I have such bad luck that I found him (Barria) inside a shark,” he said.

"I went fishing and I opened up the shark’s belly and I found a forearm with a tattoo.”

Barria was identified by the tattoo of a rose alongside the name Josefina.

School sharks grow to only 1.50 metres and mostly eat fish and mollusks.

Daniela Millatruz, head of the local missing person’s division, said the navy was taking part in the search for the rest of Barria’s body. — AFP