Frilled Shark Destroys Everything You Love
January 24, 2007 5:01 PM   Subscribe

Today, in Japan, divers swam with a live frilled shark. Let the abject terror commence (embedded video). What does it eat? OTHER SHARKS.
posted by nathancaswell (39 comments total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
Not the deepest first post in the history of Metafilter, but this thing really blew my shit.
posted by nathancaswell at 5:02 PM on January 24, 2007


That's one freaky lookin' fish. I want one! I want one!
posted by brundlefly at 5:07 PM on January 24, 2007


It is one badass looking fish, but in the video it doesn't look well at all. I bet healthy ones are pretty quick swimmers given the length and muscles on its body.
posted by bhouston at 5:12 PM on January 24, 2007


My son and I just watched that this morning on the Reuters feed... He's fascinated by prehistoric-looking creatures, and this one definitely fits the bill.
posted by amyms at 5:14 PM on January 24, 2007


Man, that is weird looking. The way it swims looks so odd too. You'd think from the way it looks that it would swim like an eel, moving its whole body, but in the video the middle of the torso stays in place while the tail fin propels it. Maybe it's because it wasn't doing so good.


And surely it eats decomposing sharks, or smaller, deep-sea sharks. But not great whites...right?
posted by kosher_jenny at 5:17 PM on January 24, 2007


bhouston writes "it doesn't look well at all"

I saw the news report on tv yesterday and they said that it died only a few hours after being taken into captivity.
posted by peacay at 5:22 PM on January 24, 2007


That is incredible. Exactly like something out of a kid's dinosaur book. And this species was just rarely seen rather then newly discovered? I'd never heard of it. I think the frilled shark needs a new PR agent.
posted by gspm at 5:24 PM on January 24, 2007


The CNN article and the Wikipedia entry mention that marine biologists suspect the reason it came so close to the surface was because it was sick and perhaps disoriented.

Poor little feller DIE.
posted by nathancaswell at 5:24 PM on January 24, 2007


Kosher_Jenny, yeah I just picked the two gnarliest shark photos that came up on a Google image search. It made it scarier. Forgive my editorializing.
posted by nathancaswell at 5:26 PM on January 24, 2007


Think of it like a shark in a tuxedo shirt; he ain't sacry that motherfucker was stylin'.
posted by The Straightener at 5:27 PM on January 24, 2007


"It made it scarier."

You needed to make it scarier? I'll never swim again. Or take a bath, even.
posted by Samsonov14 at 5:31 PM on January 24, 2007


That's it, I'm not swimming at depths of 120 to 1,400 meters EVER AGAIN.
posted by mullingitover at 5:54 PM on January 24, 2007 [2 favorites]


This was an awesome piece of information...the first fifteen times I saw it on every website on the intarweb over the past day or two.
posted by nightchrome at 5:57 PM on January 24, 2007


Ha!
posted by Brittanie at 5:59 PM on January 24, 2007


It looks like a giant grey sperm with rows and rows of sharp, chompy teeth.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 6:02 PM on January 24, 2007


Eek! Kinda reminds me (in a creepy, decomposing eel sort of way) of the giant oarfish at the Los Angeles Museum of Natural History.

Last time I was there (about 20 years ago), I was a special guest of the museum curator and got to see lots of cool, creepy stuff, like a freshwater thresher shark in a walk-in freezer. And, oh yeah, I almost backed into--and knocked the head off of--a mummy in a storage room! Shades of Raiders of the Lost Ark, there.
posted by retronic at 6:02 PM on January 24, 2007


It's worth noting that aside from domesticated animals, every animal looks the way their prehistoric grandparents did. A couple of thousand years isn't very significant on an evolutionary timescale.
posted by furtive at 6:09 PM on January 24, 2007


It looks like a giant grey sperm with rows and rows of sharp, chompy teeth.

And that is odd how?
posted by tkchrist at 6:17 PM on January 24, 2007


My son and I just watched that this morning on the Reuters feed... He's fascinated by prehistoric-looking creatures, and this one definitely fits the bill.

Then he would LOVE video of my Uncle Daryl at this New Years Polar Bear swim. We call him the Ve-sloppy-raptor.
posted by tkchrist at 6:26 PM on January 24, 2007


It looks like a giant grey sperm with rows and rows of sharp, chompy teeth.

that's what she said.
posted by pruner at 6:28 PM on January 24, 2007


Given the sudden huge uptick in strange sea-creature sightings in Japan, one wonders if some enterprising fishermen started some sort of lucrative relationship with a news bureau. The reports say that the fisherman "alerted the authorities;" I have an odd feeling that the authorities have announced that it'd be worth your while if you can find these things.

This is interesting. Thanks.
posted by koeselitz at 6:36 PM on January 24, 2007


if theres one shark that deserves a laser, this is that shark.
posted by fidgets at 6:37 PM on January 24, 2007


This species of prehistoric shark was filmed this week by marine park staff in Japan.

Are there any shark species that aren't prehistoric?
posted by squalor at 6:39 PM on January 24, 2007


Are there any shark species that aren't prehistoric?

Is there ANY species in Japan that aren't prehistoric? What with the Megalon, the Ghidorah and the Godzilla and all.
posted by tkchrist at 6:44 PM on January 24, 2007


Are there any shark species that aren't prehistoric?

this one
posted by pruner at 6:51 PM on January 24, 2007


like the wife said when I showed here this... "shoot it!"
posted by HuronBob at 7:32 PM on January 24, 2007


Good post. I enjoyed the random great whites thrown in for good measure. I wonder though if there are any images showing direct similarities between this creature and anything discovered in the past 100 yrs.
posted by rubyeyo at 7:49 PM on January 24, 2007


What a beautiful creature. It figures that the first response of the Japanese was "Capture it and stick it in a tank." I wish it would have bitten the head off of one of the observers first. Just for scientific observation purposes, you know.
posted by Liosliath at 8:04 PM on January 24, 2007 [1 favorite]


And that is odd how?

It's larger than mine. But I haven't been taking my supplements lately, so most women would probably be unsatisfied with my volume, distance, and toothedness.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 9:26 PM on January 24, 2007


What a beautiful creature. It figures that the first response of the Japanese was "Capture it and stick it in a tank." I wish it would have bitten the head off of one of the observers first. Just for scientific observation purposes, you know.
posted by Liosliath at 8:04 PM PST on January 24 [+]
[!]


Well, at least this time it wasn't "capture it, stick it in a tank, and then after it dies see what it tastes like" like with the Giant Squid.
posted by kosher_jenny at 9:30 PM on January 24, 2007


Wait, they ate the giant squid?
posted by nathancaswell at 9:34 PM on January 24, 2007


Mmm. Shark. It's what's for dinner.
posted by grapefruitmoon at 11:41 PM on January 24, 2007


here's a healthy fringed shark swimming, and a better look at those neat teeth.
posted by progosk at 3:31 AM on January 25, 2007


For some more scares, check out the "Goblin Shark".
posted by 445supermag at 7:19 AM on January 25, 2007


My favorite is the cookie cutter shark.
posted by JeremyT at 8:25 AM on January 25, 2007


"Goblin Shark":...most likely by sensing the presence of prey with electro-sensitive organs in the beak, suddenly protruding the jaws, creating a sucking motion with a tongue-like muscle, and using the teeth to hold onto the victim.


AAAARRRRRRRRRGH AAAAH! AAH AAAAAAH! AAAAAARAGH!

HOLY FRIGG'N KEEEEER-IST! Somebody warn Sigorney Weaver!

PS. I just bit our my own mother-fucking tongue in sheer terror.
posted by tkchrist at 12:21 PM on January 25, 2007


Given the sudden huge uptick in strange sea-creature sightings in Japan, one wonders if…

…there's a really big problem in our oceans, and these strange creatures are being driving into shallow waters by hunger or environmental changes?
posted by five fresh fish at 11:31 PM on January 25, 2007


And surely it eats decomposing sharks, or smaller, deep-sea sharks. But not great whites...right?

They are born at 40-60cm long and grow to about 2m long, so smaller deep-sea sharks are a good bet, especially considering they swallow their prey whole.
posted by musicinmybrain at 5:41 PM on January 26, 2007


OMFG - I'm a semi-shark buff, but never heard of the Goblin Shark until now -- unbelievable.


*shivers and shakes*
posted by davidmsc at 12:43 AM on January 28, 2007


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