Pre-historic Shark From Dinosaur Era With 300 Teeth Found Swimming Offcoast of Portugal
Shark Dating Back to 800 Million Years Found Swimming Offcoast of Portugal
Updated: November 12, 2017
By India.com
Scientists working on the Algarve coast were in for a surprise when they caught a rare frilled shark earlier this week. Termed as the pre-historic shark, the creature dates back to 80 million years making it the oldest species on the planet. While it has a long slim snake-like body it has a strange circular arrangement of 300 teeth. Researchers from the Institute for the Sea and Atmosphere were working on a project to ‘minimise unwanted catches in commercial fishing’ when they stumbled upon this shark.
As per reports, the Institute said that the fish measured 1.5 metes in length was caught from the waters off the resort of Portimao at a depth of 700 meters. According to the scientists, the shark is “little known in terms of its biology or environment” as it lives in the great depths in the Atlantic and off the coasts of Australia, New Zealand, and Japan. They said that this marine animal is rarely caught and even these examples will not make it o the research laboratories. There is also little footage of the shark in its natural habitat.
Professor Margarida Castro of the University of the Algarve reportedly said that the shark gets its name from the frilled arrangement of its 300 teeth, “which allows it to trap squid, fish and other sharks in sudden lunges”. This isn’t the first time that a frilled shark has been caught, last year a fisherman called Roman Fedortsov had posted pictures of a frilled shark he caught in Russia. Frilled sharks are known for having extra gills, big mouths, eyes on the side of their heads and also spineless back. fins. They are members of some of the most ancient groups of sharks in the world.
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