Oooh, cool movie of a recently captured frilled shark, Chlamydoselachus anguineus. These are weird-looking deep water predators with awkward-seeming bodies and extremely sharp teeth that they use to catch fish and squid.
(hat tip to the Count)
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« Hang on...the Designer is Barbara Eden? | Main | Why should academics be expected to be silent? »
Chlamydoselachus
Category: Organisms
Posted on: January 24, 2007 2:59 PM, by PZ Myers
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Comments
Posted by: Sherry Konkus | January 24, 2007 3:36 PM
Unusual, yet awesome shark!! Thanks for showing us the video, PZ!
Posted by: Randy | January 24, 2007 3:58 PM
We're not showing till now hidden soft spot for vertebrates, now, are we?
Cool video. I have never heard of this shark before.
Posted by: spin sycle | January 24, 2007 4:10 PM
from a totally un-science view, this thing is the stuff of nightmares!
Posted by: Henry Clay | January 24, 2007 4:19 PM
I can imagine the creationist argument now:
"Hey Mr. Evolutionist! If'n them sharks evolved, how come there's still prehistoric sharks! Praise gawd!
Posted by: Mirror | January 24, 2007 4:21 PM
Hey, don't some of these deep sea creatures have serious body function failures when brought up to low pressure shallow waters?
Posted by: Clay Henry | January 24, 2007 4:24 PM
I used to love the Chlamydoselachus salad rollup at Subway.
Posted by: Lago | January 24, 2007 4:54 PM
"Hey, don't some of these deep sea creatures have serious body function failures when brought up to low pressure shallow waters?"
Hence it is dead...
Posted by: Maureen Lycaon | January 24, 2007 5:02 PM
Unrelated, but Darren Naish's Tetrapod Zoology has just moved to Scienceblogs:
http://scienceblogs.com/tetrapodzoology/
Posted by: BlueIndependent | January 24, 2007 5:12 PM
spin cycle: "from a totally un-science view, this thing is the stuff of nightmares!"
Wow, no kidding. I would lose my mud if that zombie-crazed-lookin' thing floated up next to me. I would've described it just as the reporter said the man did.
Nevertheless, it is a very interesting find, and an interesting factoid for people not in the know...like me.
The Angler Fish is still for me the most frightening sight I've yet seen in nature (on TV) though.
Posted by: Max Udargo | January 24, 2007 5:17 PM
Hence it is dead...
Yeah, but I wonder if the awkward, hunched-back, zombie-like swimming is how it normally moves. And are the exposed gills - the "frills" - normal or is that what happens when the animal wanders into a decompressed zone where it might be observed by humans?
I just wonder if it looks and moves very differently in its normal environment.
Posted by: MarkG | January 24, 2007 5:33 PM
BlueIndependent, I agree that the Angler Fish looks like the stuff of nightmares!
Here's a short vid (PZ, you might want to look away)
Posted by: Monado | January 24, 2007 5:41 PM
I think it was in distress when filmed. And the lower-than-usual pressure wouldn't have helped. Interesting comment about the bulging gills.
Posted by: PaulGBrown | January 24, 2007 5:45 PM
Note on deep sea creatures.
In Tim Flannery's book "The Weather Makers" he spends a chapter on the biology of deep sea creatures and touches on what kills 'em as they surface. At least in Flannery's telling the 'change in pressure does it' story has been replaced in these modern times by a 'change in temperature does it' story.
He cites the experiment of tossing a Caulophryne polynema into a bucket of ice to revive it. He then goes on to mumble in scary tones about changes in sea water temperatures on the abyssal plain, but I digress.
Prolly this was a sick, old individual.
Posted by: BlueIndependent | January 24, 2007 7:19 PM
MarkG,
Funny you should post that. I found that exact clip after reading PZ's post. I actually saw that whole special on Discovery (?) back in December. VERY impressive array of life down there, and amazing how many adaptations have come about. It is a biological treasure to be sure.
Posted by: Rob | January 24, 2007 10:10 PM
Aren't there several deep sea species that make daily migrations to higher levels of the ocean at night? I seem to recall some species of squid doing this. How do they cope with the environmental changes?
Posted by: Chinchillazilla | January 24, 2007 10:27 PM
Awkward, exploded, and dying or not, I still think that thing is adorable.
Yes, I have issues, okay? I also think skeletons are adorable. Its freakiness is part of its charm.
Posted by: Andrew Brown | January 25, 2007 3:15 AM
Also, the delightful voice-over blooper, where she says the creature normally lives "600 metres under the sea". Under the surface, possibly.
Posted by: bernarda | January 25, 2007 3:37 AM
Also, why are such animals so often described as "pre-historic"? Aren't all species, including mankind, pre-historic in origin?
Posted by: amph | January 25, 2007 4:33 AM
Aren't all species, including mankind, pre-historic in origin?
Obviously they use the word as if it meant "very very long ago". Apparently speciation can be very fast, for instance in the cichlids of Lake Victoria; many of those fishes might be considered to belong to (post-) historic species.
Posted by: possummomma | January 25, 2007 5:38 AM
That's freakin' awesome!
If anyone has a copy of the newest National Geographic, there's an article on a species of squid, in the Pacific, that normally occupy the oceans top two zones. A submersible caught pictures of these squids at 6,000 feet below the surface, carrying for their eggs (not leaving them behind as previously thought). They use their tentacles to constantly pulsate the sac and, thereby, keep a flow of fresh water constantly running over the baby squid. It's a remarkable article. It also shows that there are animals that can live in two very different, extreme environments (pressure wise). Amazing.
Posted by: Jack Hynes | January 25, 2007 8:20 AM
I thought that was the happiest looking shark I've ever seen. It was almost grinning! Although I'm guessing it almost certainly wasn't.
Posted by: Fernando Magyar | January 25, 2007 12:59 PM
I suspect that a sudden drop in ambient pressure would surely wreak havoc with a fish that had a gas filled swim bladder.I believe sharks do not have such an organ. As a long time scuba diver I am also well aware of the fact the gases dissolved in blood and tissues might also come out of solution, classic bends. Though it sounds most likely that in this case the poor shark was done in by the higher temperature at surface. It would be interesting to hear the results of any analysis done on this creature's tissues.
Posted by: Marine Geologist | January 25, 2007 2:18 PM
Angler Fish are wusses. Google "Opsanus tau" and check out something really ugly.
Posted by: David Marjanović | January 25, 2007 6:16 PM
Indeed not.
Latimeria has filled its lungs with fat, and deep-sea ray-finned fishes AFAIK have various reductions of their swim bladders as well.
Posted by: David Marjanović | January 25, 2007 6:18 PM
I just did... and you call that "ugly"? Tsss...
Posted by: raincoaster | January 26, 2007 11:38 AM
It was apparently a very sick shark and died within less than an hour of its capture. I've got some video on my blog of it, with just the ocean sounds, no nattering voiceover, and it's really quite sad to watch; the thing is in obvious distress, and there's the cameraman right up its snout and another diver on the other side herding it. Defamer.com got it right with its paparazzi-razzing headline, "Hey! Prehistoric shark! Over here!"
Posted by: Dave Godfrey | January 26, 2007 1:36 PM
I'm fairly sure the exposed gills are normal, hence the name "Frilled Shark".
Posted by: Keith Douglas | January 27, 2007 7:44 PM
I take it this thing has no / different sort of jaw? It didn't seem to ever close its mouth.