April 19, 2010 : Frilled Shark

Frilled Shark  

In 2007, a fisherman near Tokyo, Japan, told Awashiwa Marine Park officials that he’d just seen a very unusual eel-like creature with needle-sharp teeth. Staff at the park followed the fisherman, who directed them to the 5-foot-long oddity. They caught the creature, which was later identified as a frilled shark.

The frilled shark has been called everything from a “sea serpent” to a real-life “Loch Ness Monster” over the years in places where it lives, such as southeast Australia, New Zealand, Southeast Asia, West Africa, Chile and the Caribbean. A more accurate nickname is “the living fossil,” since this shark belongs to a primitive species that has changed very little over millions of years.