A shark with bulging eyes and a human-like smile was dragged up from the depths off the coast of Australia. The shark experts don't know which species the strange specimen is related to.
A deep-sea fisherman, who goes by the online name Trapman Bermagui, caught a shark off the coast of New South Wales in Australia. A picture of the deep-sea specimen was shared by the fisher on Facebook. The image shows off the dead shark's rough sandpaper-like skin, large pointed snout, large bulging eyes, and exposed white teeth.
Other Facebook users were either amazed or terrified by the shark. One person wrote that the specimen was the stuff of nightmares, while another said it gave them major creeps. Some people speculated that the shark was smiling after having its braces removed or that it was wearing fake teeth.
Commenters speculated about the shark's breed. The cookie cutter shark is named for the bite marks it leaves on larger animals. There were other possibilities, including a goblin shark or a lantern shark.
The online commenters disagreed with Bermagui. The fisher told Newsweek that he wasn't a cookie cutter. The shark is also known as a species of dogfish.
A group of deep-sea sharks, called gulper sharks, are found throughout the world.
Some shark experts weren't convinced by the fisher's identity.
Christopher Lowe is the director of the Shark Lab at California State University, Long Beach. It's hard to tell without seeing the whole specimen.
The shark expert at Florida State University gave a different conclusion. The roughskin dogfish is a type of shark that is related to the Somniosus microcephalus.
It is1-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-6556 is1-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-6556 Many of the deepwater sharks look very similar to each other.
Other experts think that Trapman Bermagui may have been right.
Brit Finucci, a fisheries scientist at the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research in New Zealand, told Live Science that it was a gulper shark. It is not clear which species it is in.
Charlie Huveneers told Live Science that he agreed with the identification of the animal as a gulper shark.
In the past gulper sharks were targeted for their oil. Some gulper sharks are protected in Australia because of their sensitivity to overexploitation from fishing.
It was originally published on Live Science
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