Rare primitive shark captured on film

[mark]

seen fr a post on reefs.org

A species of shark rarely seen alive because its natural habitat is 600 metres (2,000 ft) or more under the sea was captured on film by staff at a Japanese marine park this week.

The Awashima Marine Park in Shizuoka, south of Tokyo, was alerted by a fisherman at a nearby port on Sunday that he had spotted an odd-looking eel-like creature with a mouthful of needle-sharp teeth.
Marine park staff caught the 1.6 metre (5 ft) long creature, which they identified as a female frilled shark, sometimes referred to as a "living fossil" because it is a primitive species that has changed little since prehistoric times.
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The shark appeared to be in poor condition when park staff moved it to a seawater pool where they filmed it swimming and opening its jaws.
"We believe moving pictures of a live specimen are extremely rare," said an official at the park. "They live between 600 and 1,000 metres under the water, which is deeper than humans can go."
"We think it may have come close to the surface because it was sick, or else it was weakened because it was in shallow waters," the official said. The shark died a few hours after being caught. Frilled sharks, which feed on other sharks and sea creatures, are sometimes caught in the nets of trawlers but are rarely seen alive.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/liv...n_page_id=1965

[Der_Iron_Chef]

That is freaky looking. Personally, I'm glad they stay 600 metres below sea level!

[Delphinus]

Saw that on TV this morning. What a beautifully bizarre looking creature. Bummer that it perished shortly after. I wonder if it got caught in a fishing net or something and managed to break free but got too close to the surface.

[Beverly]

Totally amazing looking fish!

[Veng68]

Fouund a video

http://educatedearth.net/video.php?id=2841

Cheers,
Vic [veng68]

[OCDP]

Interesting. Really makes you wonder what else is down under.

[bassman]

Originally Posted by OCDP

Interesting. Really makes you wonder what else is down under.

And why we look up when looking for aliens.

[muck]

I saw it on the tube this morning as well at the Gym. Couldn't tell what they were saying though as they didn't have Captions on.