A rare frilled shark, whose species dates back 80 million years, left a group of Australian fisherman shocked after it was caught in a fishing trawler off Australia's coast.
Chlamydoselachus anguineus, often referred to as a living fossil, is one of the most primitive sharks in existence, CBS News reported. With six pairs of frilly-like gill slits, the fringed-looking prehistoric creature is described as having an eel-like body with three fins on its back along with dorsal fins, similar to the predatory fish.
"It's a freaky thing. It does look 80 million years old. It looks prehistoric, it looks like it's from another time," Simon Boag, the chief executive officer at South East Trawl Fishing Association, told Australia's ABC Rural. "I don't think you would want to show it to little children before they went to bed."
This week, the dark brown shark was caught from the water near Lakes Entrance in Victoria's east at a depth of 2,300 feet by a trawler. It is only one of two species still alive from this period, according to the SETFA website.
"This guy was just unlucky," Boag said, since the shark was caught in shallower depths than it is usually found.
"It has 300 teeth over 25 rows, so once you're in that mouth, you're not coming out," he said adding that the men who found the shark were initially puzzled by their find.
The shark, which reaches about 6 feet in length, uses its needle-shaped teeth to capture bony fish and other sharks while using its flexible jaws to swallow its prey whole by bending its body like a snake.
David Guillot, the captain of the Western Alliance Vessell, told radio station 3AW Drive that the shark was unlike any fish he's ever seen.
"I've been at sea for 30 years and I've never seen a shark that looks like that," he said. "It was like a large eel, probably 1.5 meters [5 feet] long, and the body was quite different to any other shark I'd ever seen."
Meanwhile although the specimen was offered to the CSIRO, it was not taken in. It is now understood that the shark has been sold off, UK MailOnline reported.
