Prehistoric Shark With 300 Teeth That Dates Back 80 Million Years Caught Off Shore

Even if the oceans are too wide, humans still get to see their ends with multiple high-tech water ships built for exploration. Going deep down under is what’s very difficult to do with the bottom of the seas still remain undiscovered.

Many sea creatures that lurk at the depths of the ocean are still unknown to us humans. But an interesting fish came to surface and scientists are studying what it is really like. The prehistoric shark is believed by scientists to exist since 80 million years ago was and it was discovered in the Algarve, Portugal.

A frilled shark was found off coast in Portugal

The creature was named as frilled shark and it is said to be one of the oldest species that still exist today. Despite the claim that they lived for a long time on Earth, people don’t really know much about them and have only the basic details to describe them.

The prehistoric shark has a slim, cylindrical body and was found with a set of 300 razor-sharp teeth. It has extra gills and the male fish measured at 1.5 meters long. Scientists caught the mysterious shark at a depth of 700 meters while they were working a project to “minimise unwanted catches in commercial fishing.”

The existence of the prehistoric shark was already known a couple of years ago and until now, scientists still have limited knowledge on what they are made up.

Other than these details, scientists know very little about its biological make-up and its preferred environment. They however suspect that they settle somewhere deep in the ocean. Studying the fish in its natural habitat will then be difficult to pull since diving deep into the ocean will be hard and costly for humans.

Professor and researcher from the University of Algarve, Margarid Castro, said the name frilled shark came from the fish’s arrangement of teeth. He said their teeth were aligned in such a way that it can capture its prey using quick lunges.

The possibility to study the depths of the ocean might allow scientists to finally unlock the mysteries about the frilled shark.

Although our knowledge about the prehistoric shark remains to be very limited, scientists expect to discover more about them over time with explorers like David Attenborough pushing for more adventures deeper and deeper into the ocean.