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Ghost Shark Filmed On Camera For The First Time Has A Penis On His Head
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Ghost Shark Filmed On Camera For The First Time Has A Penis On His Head

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Meet the deep-sea ghost shark, a mysteriously scary creature you have never seen before! Although this type of sharks has been around for at least 300 million years (earlier than dinosaurs), this is probably the first time they were caught on camera. In the sensational video, we get a close-up of this absent-eyed, strangely pale and wing-finned fish also known as chimaera.

When the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute in California deployed a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) in waters as deep as 6,700 feet near California and Hawaii, they didn’t expect to see the rare shark. “The guys doing the video were actually geologists,” Dave Ebert from the Institute told National Geographic. “Normally, people probably wouldn’t have been looking around in this area, so it’s a little bit of dumb luck.”

The pointy-nosed deep-sea creature is usually found near Australia and New Zealand, and this is the first time it was spotted in the Northern hemisphere. Interestingly, this particular species of rare animals has a retractable sex organ on their heads and little dots that work as sensory canals that help them navigate their next meal.

The ghost shark wasn’t shy in front of the camera: “It’s almost a little comical… It would come up and bounce its nose off the lens and swim around and come back.” With the help of technology, we can only wonder what other deep-sea fishes we will be able to say ‘hello’ to in the years to come.

More info: Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute | Facebook | Instagram (h/t: nationalgeographic)

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    This species has been around for 300 million years, but this is probably the first time camera captured them

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    Meet the deep-sea ghost shark, a mysterious creature you have never seen before!

    Interestingly, this particular species has a retractable sex organ on their heads

    They were spotted by remotely operated vehicles as deep as 6,700 feet in the Pacific Ocean

    Watch the video here:

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    Elizabeth

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    Bobbi Newell
    Community Member
    8 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Very cool and interesting sharks, and now I'm curious about them. The headline is a bit too clickbait-y though...

    Arty
    Community Member
    8 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Shark is really not a good word to use here, and raise confusion. As stated after, it's a chimaera, it's a different group, cousin of sharks but also of rays ;) This species might the first one caught on camera but certainly not the first of the chimaera

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    Bobbi Newell
    Community Member
    8 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Very cool and interesting sharks, and now I'm curious about them. The headline is a bit too clickbait-y though...

    Arty
    Community Member
    8 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Shark is really not a good word to use here, and raise confusion. As stated after, it's a chimaera, it's a different group, cousin of sharks but also of rays ;) This species might the first one caught on camera but certainly not the first of the chimaera

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