Greg Ponesse
Edit
| Embed Video: |  |
 Published: Feb 22, 07 Views: 6,555 Who would have known that there is a new species of shark that is rarely seen alive? Due to the fact that its natural habitat is about 2,000 feet under the sea, it raises discussion that there is considerably a lot more wild life that marine biologists are not aware of.
 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 5 foot (1.6 meter) 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. (Watch divers swim with bizarre, ailing shark )
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. (Photo gallery: More pictures of this odd creature of the deep)
"We believe moving pictures of a live specimen are extremely rare," said an official at the park. "They live between 1,968 and 3,280 feet (600 and 1,000 meters) 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
(cnn)References: cnn Filed In: |
;showNav();changeOption('login');)
Log In ;changeOption('guest');)
Guest
Facebook ;changeOption('twitter');)
Twitter 
