Viper dogfish (Trigonognathus kabeyai) are deep-sea dwellers: they have been found 360 metres (about 1000ft) below the surface, but it's possible that they may venture even deeper than this.
In fact, the elusive creatures were only first discovered in 1986, and their official description came four years later.
The recent sighting has already stirred up several scaremongering headlines, but don't let the dogfish's menacing grin fool you: these sharks rarely exceed 47 centimetres (18 inches) nose-to-tail.
It has been found in the Pacific Ocean off southern Japan, the Bonin Islands, Pacific Ocean off northern Taitung County and the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.
Most previous catches have occurred at night, which likely indicates that the animals are vertical migrators who ascend to feed when the sun dips below the horizon, much like their cookiecutter-shark cousins.
The animal's snake-like head is reminiscent of the commonly encountered frilled shark, while those triangular "go-go-gadget-jaws," are similar to slingshot-feeders like the goblin shark.
The spiky teeth of the dogfish are better suited to grasping rather than cutting and sheering, and some prey items (small fishes and crustaceans) recovered from dogfish bellies were swallowed whole.
With so few specimens available for study, it's tough to pin down these details with certainty, and more work is needed to determine viper-dogfish abundance, conservation status, and any potential threats.
In fact, the elusive creatures were only first discovered in 1986, and their official description came four years later.
The recent sighting has already stirred up several scaremongering headlines, but don't let the dogfish's menacing grin fool you: these sharks rarely exceed 47 centimetres (18 inches) nose-to-tail.
It has been found in the Pacific Ocean off southern Japan, the Bonin Islands, Pacific Ocean off northern Taitung County and the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.
Most previous catches have occurred at night, which likely indicates that the animals are vertical migrators who ascend to feed when the sun dips below the horizon, much like their cookiecutter-shark cousins.
The animal's snake-like head is reminiscent of the commonly encountered frilled shark, while those triangular "go-go-gadget-jaws," are similar to slingshot-feeders like the goblin shark.
The spiky teeth of the dogfish are better suited to grasping rather than cutting and sheering, and some prey items (small fishes and crustaceans) recovered from dogfish bellies were swallowed whole.
With so few specimens available for study, it's tough to pin down these details with certainty, and more work is needed to determine viper-dogfish abundance, conservation status, and any potential threats.
Music: Tak - Bobby Richards
Source: The Sun, Twitter, Earth Touch News
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