Last week, a Japanese fisherman spotted an unusual and not-so-sharky-looking frilled shark swimming erratically off the coast. Knowing the animal was rare, he contacted officials at Japan's Awashima Marine Park, who caught the shark and transported it to the park's dolphin pen. The shark only survived a few hours, but that was long enough for park officials to videotape it swimming. Video footage of the frilled shark near the sea surface is very rare, and the park says it will keep the video for research purposes.
Able to grow to lengths of 6 feet, the frilled shark is usually found around 2,000 feet below the surface. Unlike most sharks, which typically have 5 sets of gills, the frilled shark has 6 sets. Researchers are unsure why the animal was swimming near the surface, although they have several theories:
It may have surfaced along with deep-sea water pushed up to shallow depths by easterly winds.
It may have left the deep waters because of cool water temperatures near the surface (which doesn't make any sense, as surface temperatures are usually warmer than deep water temperatures).
It may have been hunting for food.
Considering the animal died so soon after capture, I wonder if it was sick and disoriented and so it came to the surface.
1. Interesting. It might also have been dragged up by some fisherman's net and then escaped or been discarded. I once saw one of those twenty feet deep in the Togians off Central Sulawesi - and I had no more film in the camera :-)))
Posted at 9:24AM on Jan 24th 2007 by Andrea Ferrari
3. I really wish they would have just put a diver in the water to videotape it in the wild. Is that video really worth killing such a fantastic animal?
Posted at 10:48AM on Jan 24th 2007 by Billy Williamson
4. Billy, I think they suspected it was ill when they put it in the aquarium. I think it would've died regardless of what happened to it.
6. What is with these "fisherman"? I really think they need to stop catching these amazing and more importantly, rare animals. Is it really necessary? Look at what happened to the giant squid...dead. A true loss for all. I don't care if the animal is sick, just leave it be to die or whatever in its' own habitat. Leave the science and care for these animals up to the marine biologists and scientists.
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1. Interesting. It might also have been dragged up by some fisherman's net and then escaped or been discarded. I once saw one of those twenty feet deep in the Togians off Central Sulawesi - and I had no more film in the camera :-)))
Posted at 9:24AM on Jan 24th 2007 by Andrea Ferrari