Shark News - Rare Frilled Shark Caught in Australia

A lot of excitement seems to have been generated today by the capture of a frilled shark (Chlamydoselachus anguineus) off the coast of Victoria, Australia. The frilled shark is an incredibly rare species and one of only 2 in its genus (the other being the South African frilled shark Chlamydoselachus africana.)

Image from SETFIA http://www.setfia.org.au/item/living-fossil-captured.html

Don't worry though - despite the portrayal of this amazing species in most media stories as a "terrifying frilled shark from the deep", this shark isn't actually considered harmful to humans. For a start their principal diet consists of squid and crustaceans...and secondly they are a deep water species most commonly found at 500-1,000m.

Very little is known about this shark, which is why the South East Trawl Fishing Industry Association (SETFA) have reported that the animal was offered to the Commonwealth Scientific & Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) for data capture.

This animal has been classified as Near Threatened by the IUCN Red List as it is occasionally caught as bycatch - primarily by the bottom trawl and deep-set longline fisheries (which is why it is not overly surprising that this specimen was caught in trawler nets). There is concern that the frilled shark would be vulnerable if deepwater fisheries are expanded.

The frilled shark doesn't really have many close relatives still living today, but it is classified amongst the Hexanchiformes - an Order which includes several species of rare and wonderful shark such as the six gill and seven gill sharks. The frilled shark itself also has six gills making this group a little different from the rest of the sharks - most of which have 5 gills.

I wanted to include a nicer picture of a frilled shark rather than the - quite frankly unflattering one! - which has been attached to these news stories.

Image from Arkive http://www.arkive.org/frilled-shark/chlamydoselachus-anguineus/image-G38906.html