Frill Shark Video

First the giant squid, now this.

Japanese scientists recently caught a frill shark on video....then they up and caught it. Unfortunately it died in captivity. It is very rare to find the animal anywhere outside the deep deep ocean, they normally live over 1800 feet down. I wonder if the recent earthquake could have been involved in forcing it to the surface?

Frillsharks are neat, extremely primitive sharks, their bodies are eel-like and they are one of the very few species of sharks with six gill slits per side (the most well know being the cryptically named six gill shark), they are living fossils that may be nearly as old as the Coelocanth, though there is some doubt on that later point as referenced here.

Anyway, a big prehistoric creature from the deep ocean has been forced up off the coast of Japan.....so I guess this isn't really news....




Thanks to Stephen DenBeste for the links.