Prehistoric Frilled Shark Caught Off Portugal Coast, Features 300 Teeth
By Daksha Ranga, CTVNews // November 15, 2017
ABOVE VIDEO: The frilled shark is one of the shark world’s most bizarre species.
(CTVNews) – One of the world’s rarest – and oldest – catches has been pulled up from 600 metres below the surface of the sea.
The 1.5-metre-long frilled shark (Chlamydoselachus anguineus) was caught in a commercial trawler off Portugal’s Algarve Coast.
The trawler was working to minimize undesirable catches in European fisheries, the Portuguese Institute for the Sea and the Atmosphere (IPMA) said in a statement on Monday.
Often referred to as “living fossils,” frilled sharks have barely changed in biology over the 80 million years that the species has existed on Earth.
Scientists at IPMA describe the fish as having “a long, slender body and a snake-like head,” and a “very particular dentition” that features 300 teeth.
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