Frilled Shark: Elusive Living Fossil Caught Near Southeast Australian Coast

Summary: A frilled shark (Chlamydoselachus anguineus), an elusive living fossil, was caught near the southeast Australian coast in December 2014.

first known video footage of frilled shark in habitat, at depth of 2,866 feet (873.5 meters), August 26, 2004: NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research, Public Domain, via NOAA Ocean Explorer

In December 2014 David Guillot, skipper of the trawler Western Alliance, pulled in a surprise catch.

Skipper Guillot was fishing for dory and sea perch in shallow waters, with a depth of 0.6 miles (1.1 kilometers), near Lakes Entrance, a fishing port and tourist resort in eastern Victoria state on Australia's southeastern coast. In his net was a scarily strange fish unlike any shark the experienced skipper had ever seen during 30 years at sea. The elongated fish, almost 5 feet (1.5 meters) in length, had a head "like something out of a horror movie."

Skipper Guillot's surprise catch was identified as a frilled shark. The rarely sighted fish is called a "living fossil" because of primitive features, such as multiple-pointed teeth, and through its ancient lineage dating back about 95 million years ago (mya) to the Late Cretaceous period and possibly even about 150 mya to the Late Jurassic.

American ichthyologist Samuel Walton Garman (June 5, 1843-September 30, 1927) is credited with the official zoological description of the extraordinary, eel-like shark. Professor Garman's description, entitled "An Extraordinary Shark," was published in the January-March 1884 issue of the Bulletin of the Essex Institute, a literary, historical and scientific society founded in Salem, Massachusetts, in 1848. As assistant director of Harvard University's Museum of Comparative Zoology, Professor Garman based his description upon the museum's female specimen, collected in Japan and presented to Harvard by American collector and naturalist Henry Augustus Ward (March 9, 1834-July 4, 1906).

The frilled shark's common name comes from its six wraparound gill slits. The first pair forms a collar across the throat. The remaining five form succeeding flanks along the throat but do not join completely in front.

Professor Garman gave his specimen the scientific name of Chlamydoselachus anguineus. Greek words chlamus and selachos mean "cloak" and "cartilaginous fish," respectively. The Latin word anguineus means "eel-like."

Although frilled sharks dot both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, they usually are associated coastally near the British Isles; Japan; New Zealand; North Africa; and Spain.

Frilled sharks favor the stealth of the deep sea, dwelling from the outer continental shelf to the upper and middle continental slope. Although their depth zone ranges from 160 to 3,300 feet (50 to 1,000 meters), they have been found as far down as 5,150 feet (1,570 meters). Frilled sharks engage in vertical migrations, rising up through the water column to near the surface for nighttime feedings.

frilled shark front view of head with open mouth: Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Vol. XII, Plate II, Public Domain, via Internet Archive

The most ferocious aspect of frilled sharks is their teeth, which total about 300. Each tooth consists of three backward-directed, needle-like, sharp cusps that are reminiscent of serpents' teeth. The upper jaw sports about 14 rows of teeth on each side. The lower jaw sprouts about 13 rows of teeth on each side.

The frilled shark's preference for swallowing its prey whole is encouraged by its highly distensible, widely gaping jaws. Undaunted by larger prey, frilled sharks favor squid and octopus in their diet. Professor Garman suggested that any prey in the vicinity would be incapable of escaping frilled sharks' formidably grasping teeth and their eel-like flexible body.

Professor Garman suggested that some sea serpent sightings may well be attributed to frilled sharks, with their scattered distribution across the Atlantic and the Pacific, and also with their fierce-looking heads, scary teeth and slithering bodies.

Skipper Guillot's offer of his frightening find to the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation was declined because CSIRO, headquartered in the Land Down Under's capital, Canberra, already holds a specimen in its collection.

closeup of frilled shark specimen in Kaikyoukan Aquarium, Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi Prefecture, southwestern Honshu island, Japan: OpenCage, CC BY SA 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

first known video footage of frilled shark in habitat, at depth of 2,866 feet (873.5 meters), August 26, 2004: NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research, Public Domain, via NOAA Ocean Explorer @ http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/04etta/logs/aug27/media/frilled_shark.html

frilled shark front view of head with open jaw: Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Vol. XII, Plate II, Public Domain, via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/stream/bulletinofmuseu12harv#page/n48/mode/1up

closeup of frilled shark specimen in Kaikyoukan Aquarium, Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi Prefecture, southwestern Honshu island, Japan: OpenCage, CC BY SA 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Frilled_shark_head2.jpg

For further information:

Cormack, Lucy. "'Horrific' frilled shark pulled from the depths of the ocean." The Sydney Morning Herald>Conservation/Environment. Jan. 15, 2015.
Available @ http://www.smh.com.au/environment/conservation/horrific-frilled-shark-pulled-from-the-depths-of-the-ocean-20150121-12uuhb.html

Garman, S. (Samuel). "Chlamydoselachus anguineus Garm. -- A Living Species of Cladodont Shark." Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, vol. XII (1885-1886): 1-35.
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/bulletinofmuseu12harv

Garman, Samuel. "An Extraordinary Shark." Bulletin of the Essex Institute, vol. XVI, Nos. 1-3 (January-March 1884): 47-55.
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/bulletinofess161884unse