January 24, 2007
'Fossil' Shark appears off coast of Japan
A species of shark rarely seen alive because its natural habitat is 600 metres or more 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 1.6-metre-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.
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.
Looks fierce.
Is it possible that since it lives 2000 feet down normally that it being close enough for man to see and caputre it, could it's sickness be the bends?
Just thinking.
Oh, you can also see some video here
Posted by Muddy at January 24, 2007 12:34 PMThat thing looks so weird. It looks like a cross between a copper head snake (look at it's head), an over sized fish (regular fish - not shark), and the product of a creation from some sci-fi writer.
Posted by: mrs. muddy at January 24, 2007 01:06 PMDoubtful the bends. The bends comes from rising up to fast and the expanding inert gases in the bloods vessels. Gills extract oxygen from water...so no inert gases. Plus, the symptoms are usually caused by the gas bubbles of the inert gases getting caught in places like the lungs, and joints - things fish generally don't have.
Also, it assumes a very rapid ascent...unlikely.
Posted by: skywalker at January 28, 2007 08:30 AM