SYDENY: Rare frilled shark that has been caught by a fisherman in Australia, where no one remembers ever seeing one caught before. With a mouth packed full of needle-like teeth and a body like an eel, the six-foot long frilled shark is sometimes described as a fish “fossil” that dates back 80 million years.
Fisherman David Guillot has found the fish and it was quite shocking for him as he has never seen anything like it. Guillot affirmed that when he saw the head of the fish it was like something out of a horror movie.
For him, the fish was quite scary. Guillot said that he was actually fishing for dory and sea perch near Lakes Entrance in Gippsland, off the southeastern coast of Victoria. While doing that he found the unusual fish from water nearly a mile deep.
The shark was about 4.9 feet long and was so strange looking that originally Guillot thought it was a new species. Experts said that generally, frilled sharks are found in great depths in cold, temperate waters off the coast of New Zealand and Japan.
It can also be spotted between the coasts of the British Isles through Spain to northern Africa, said Mark Meekan, a shark biologist at the Australian Institute of Marine Science.
It is very rare that this fish is caught as their habitat is in those areas where fishing is not allowed. Scientists said there are few chances that frilled sharks can be found in Taiwanese fish markets.
The fish has 25 rows of teeth shaped like backward needles. Its general diet comprises of squid and octopus and it can extend its jaw to eat prey that is more than half its size. In 1884, the frilled shark was first described.
Its closest relative is the cow shark, which dates back to around 95 million years. Frilled sharks are said to have extreme long pregnancies as their embryos do not grow much, just about a half-inch each month.
