Clavmedia FR: March 2015

Tuesday, 17 March 2015

Extremely Rare Vampire Shark Caught By Fishermen

A ‘living dinosaur’ has been caught by stunned fishermen off the coast of Victoria, Australia.

The creepy-looking creature has a bloated pink belly, grey fins, a pointy nose and row of short, sharp teeth

An extremely rare goblin shark was captured in a net by fishermen just 609 metres below the water’s surface. It is considered highly unusual as the creature typically swims in waters near the ocean floor at around 1200 metres deep.

This extremely rare two-to-three year old goblin shark was pulled from waters off the coast of Victoria

The animal is also known as the ‘vampire shark’ for their love of darkness. This pink-skinned beast has a distinctive profile with an elongated, flattened snout, and highly protrusible jaws containing prominent nail-like teeth. It is usually between 3 and 4 m long when mature, though it can grow considerably larger.

The species are rarely seen as they typically stay in waters near the ocean floor at around 1200 metres deep

Speaking about weird catch one of the fishermen said, “I wasn’t freaked out, if anything I was pretty excited. I’ve seen photos of them before but I’ve never seen one before.” Experts from the Wharf Aquarium studied the creature and suggested that it was approximately two-three years old due to its relatively small length – only 1.2 metres.

As they dislike sunlight and prefer the darkness of the ocean floor, they are also known as the ‘vampire shark’

The goblin shark is a rare, poorly understood species of deep-sea shark, it is the only extant representative of the family Mitsukurinidae, a lineage some 125 million years old. The discovery comes weeks after another terrifying prehistoric shark was caught in the waters near Lakes Entrance, Victoria, Australia.