Welcome back for another creepy edition of Finn Friday! We are trekking back deep beneath the waves for today’s shark. Named for their frilly gill slits, the Frill shark looks more serpent than shark. Like our friend the Sixgill shark, they are an ancient species, with fossil records dating back 95 million years. During their many years on this magnificent planet, they haven’t changed much. They are very secretive, so we don’t know everything about them just yet, but strap on in and let's explore everything we do know about the frightening Frilled shark!
Where do they live?
Frilled sharks have a large, but spotty range. They can be found in both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, but are rarely seen. They are a deep-sea species, typically staying at depths around 164-656 feet (50-200m) below the surface. They have never been known to visit the surface or more shallow water.
How long do they live?
Because these sharks are so rarely seen and difficult for scientists to observe, we don’t really know what their average lifespan is. The majority of our knowledge comes from individuals that are already dead that have been caught as bycatch by industrial fishermen.
What do they eat?
Frilled sharks mainly eat squid, but will, on occasion, also eat deep-sea fish and other sharks. What’s absolutely bonkers, though, is that scientists believe Frilled sharks are able to swallow prey that is half their size whole! While a frilled shark has never been observed eating, scientists base this belief on their jaw structure, which has been observed in deceased individuals that have been caught as bycatch.
What do they like to do?
Like I said before, scientists aren’t really able to observe Frilled sharks often due to the fact that they live at such great depths and never wander up to the surface. The few we have been able to observe in their natural habitat are pretty cool though. Scientists describe their swimming motion as eel-like, which is vastly different from most shark species.
Like our friend the Sixgill shark, Frilled sharks are an ancient species that don’t really resemble what you usually think of when you think of sharks. They have 6 gill slits, unlike the typical 5, and the first gill slit actually goes around their entire body. Another strange difference is that their jaw is terminal, meaning at the front of their head, instead of inferior, meaning underneath their head, which is what the majority of sharks have. My favorite part is their fancy gill slits, though. I think they are absolutely beautiful, like a fancy necklace.
Conservation Status:
The IUCN Red List lists them as least concern. Because they are so rarely encountered by humans, there isn’t much data concerning their population levels, but they are thought to be stable.
Sources:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/1trnhsBL6PnffqgZRwQ8NP6/frilled-shark
https://www.mcsuk.org/30species/frilled-shark
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2017/11/prehistoric-frilled-shark-bycatch-deep-sea-spd/
https://www.sharks.org/frilled-shark-chlamydoselachus-anguineus
https://www.nationalgeographic.org/photo/frilledshark/
https://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/04etta/logs/aug26/media/frilled_shark_video.html
https://ocean.si.edu/ocean-life/sharks-rays/frilled-shark
http://www.elasmo-research.org/education/ecology/deepsea-frilled_shark.htm
https://oceana.org/marine-life/sharks-rays/frilled-shark
https://marinebio.org/species/frilled-sharks/chlamydoselachus-anguineus/
https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/discover-fish/fish/anatomy/mouth-types/
https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/41794/68617785
Comments