An Aussie fisherman caught a strange looking deep sea shark Monday that has left experts guessing on what kind of species the creature is.
The fisherman, Trapman Bermagui, posted a picture of the shark on Facebook and claimed that he reeled in the mystery animal at a depth of 2,133 feet underwater, Newsweek reported.
The shark has scaly skin, sharp white teeth and bulging blue eyes. (RELATED: Over Two-Dozen Shark Sightings On Cape Cod In A Single Weekend)
Initially, Facebook users speculated that the shark was a “cookie cutter,” but Bermagui bit back by refuting those claims.
The fisherman told Newsweek that it is “Totally not a cookiecutter,” adding that “It’s a rough skin shark, also known as a species of endeavor dog shark.”
Dean Grubbs, associate director of research at the Florida State University Coastal and Marine Laboratory concurred.
Grubbs stated that the shark appears to be a Centroscymnus owstoni, which is also known as the roughskin dogfish, according to the outlet.
California State University Long Beach Shark Lab Director and professor Christopher Lowe shared a different perspective and offered his own hypothesis. (RELATED: Massive Shark Spotted Charging Towards A Beach In Scary Viral Video)
Lowe asserted that the shark looks like a deepwater kitefin shark, which are common in waters off of Australia. The kitefin shark species are also known as Dalatias.
Kitefin sharks can produce their own light by glowing in the dark and can grow as large as six feet, according to CNN.
Scientists have taken the first-ever photos of a glow-in-the-dark shark producing its own light.
The kitefin shark, Dalatias licha, is the world’s largest known bioluminescent vertebrate, growing to nearly six feet in length. https://t.co/FLJFEUG2h3 pic.twitter.com/TlEv5ei7D6
— CNN (@CNN) March 6, 2021
Lowe noted that it was hard to tell exactly since the picture only shows the face of the shark and not its entire body.
In any case, the CSU shark lab director added that “It looks like Dalatias lata to me; however, we discover new species of deepwater shark all the time and many look very similar to each other.”