Frilled Shark

Overview

A deep-sea relic with an eel-like body, 300 trident-shaped teeth, and a lineage stretching back 80 million years. Rarely observed alive. Swallows prey whole; possibly ambushes prey by bending its body like a snake.

Habitat

Benthic, epibenthic and pelagic. These sharks frequent off-shore shelves and upper continental and island slopes of 164 to 4921.3 ft [50 to1500 m] deep, but are occasionally located at the surface.

Distribution

Widely but patchily distributed world-wide, rare to uncommon, usually in deep water.

Behavior

In captivity, they have a habit of swimming with the mouth open and it may be that their conspicuous white teeth are used to lure prey.