This was a big news story last week and finally over the weekend I saw the film footage of it after Melissa told me it was really weird. Sure enough the shark, which swam like an eel, was pretty freaky looking and definately brings to mind prehistoric images of what sharks may have once looked like.
Continue on for the article and VIDEO of this shark!
article and pic above from yahoo.com, videos from youtube:
Rare shark captured on film
TOKYO, Japan (Reuters) — A species of shark rarely seen alive because its natural habitat is about 2,000 feet 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 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 sharkVideo)
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 caught in the nets of trawlers but are rarely seen alive.
Check out the videos:
And this has nothing to do with the rare shark videos, but here is a great white shark jumping out of the water. Seriously if I saw this I would shit in my pants!