In the most recent of those 80 million years, the frilled shark has been scaring the bejeezus out of humans who pull it out of the water to find an animal with rows of needle-like teeth in a gaping mouth at the front of its head. Name tailor-made for the frilled shark, whose roots are traced to 80 million years ago. Its prehistoric origins are obvious in its primitive body; nearly all of the rare animal's closest relatives are long extinct.
"It was like a large eel, probably 1.5 meters [about 5 feet] long, and the body was quite different to any other shark I'd ever seen," fisherman David Guillot tells 3AW radio. "The head on it was like something out of a horror movie. It was quite horrific looking."
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SMDrPepper
Its pretty amazing that these sharks still exist after all these millions of years when so many of the other variations of sharks that lived alongside it have gone extinct.
Kurtinco
Fascinating that we still find large, previously unknown (or presumed extinct) animal species living on this planet. We still have so much to learn about our own home.
Abbi Bailu
It's likely that fishermen regularly pull rare and freakish specimens up from the depths. It's equally likely they decide - in the privacy of their remote boats - to quietly let the creatures slide overboard and back into the sea.
