What you’re about to see, is the stuff of nightmares—unless, of course, you’re an avid nature enthusiast who only sees beauty in wildlife, in which case you’ll probably be thrilled.
It’s being described as old as “the age of dinosaurs”, and it left the people who captured it in awe.
How would you react if you pulled this thing out of the abyss of the Atlantic Ocean:
Yes, we could certainly imagine this thing swimming around during the “age of dinosaurs”.
It’s called a frilled shark: dating back 80 million years, it’s one of the oldest species still alive today, possibly providing us with an insight into just how predatory our ancient history was.
The creature was captured off the southern coast of Portugal, near the resort of Portimao, by a team of researchers working on an unrelated project to “minimize unwanted catches in commercial fishing,” according to Sic Noticias TV.
Measuring in at 1.5 meters long, the snake-like shark was found at a depth of 700 meters.
One of its most stunning attributes is its intimidating array of teeth—-300 to be exact—positioned in a frill pattern (where it gets its name from).
According to Professor Margarida Castro of the University of the Algarve, who spoke with Sic Noticias, the frilled shark’s teeth allow it to “trap squid, fish, and other sharks in sudden lunges.”
Imagine getting bit by this:
The above photo was taken by Roman Fedortsov, a fisherman who posted it to his Twitter account.
Here’s another one he took:
https://twitter.com/rfedortsov/status/929735234479972352
Its eyes are located on the side of its head and has spineless fins on its back.
If you’ve had enough of the frilled shark for one day, then we don’t blame you.
Otherwise, watch this underwater footage that’s garnered over 12 million views, showing the unique creature in action:
