Most shark reports concern the more common varieties, but there are more than 400 known species of sharks, and some of them are very rare.
Frilled sharks, often called ‘living fossils’ are one of those lesser-known species and a man in Australia recently caught one.
A spokesman for the South East Trawl Fishing Industry Association said the catch is the first local sighting he’s learned about.
The frilled shark has about 300 needle-like teeth which are spread out in 25 rows. Experts believe the species is about 80 million years old. They have a prehistoric look about them with a long brown body that resembles an eel’s and eyes that look glazed over.
While speaking to Tom Elliott on Radio 3AW, the man who caught the rarely spotted frilled shark remarked, “I’ve been at sea for 30 years and I’ve never seen a shark look like that. The head on it was like something out of a horror movie. It was quite horrific looking.”
