Rare Frilled Shark Caught - Prehistoric & Terrifying!

The fishing community in Australia was shocked when a rarely-seen frilled shark was captured by one of their own off the coast of Victoria, Australia, Inquisitr reported.

Fisherman David Guillot was the one who captured the unusual looking shark last month in Gippsland at the Lakes Entrance. He said, "I've been at sea for 30 years and I've never seen a shark like that. The head on it was something out of a horror movie. It was quite horrific looking."

The rarely sighted, prehistoric frilled shark resembles an eel, has a long sleek body, more than 47 rows of teeth and can grow up to two meters. There are six gills on either side of it, which wraps around and almost underneath the fish, which is how it got its name. It's mostly found below 400 meters in the ocean and more likely in temperate waters, according to Sydney Morning Herald.

The one Guillot captured was about 1.5 meters long and was captured 1.1 kilometers deep in Lakes Entrance. He also shared that he learned how the shark would capture its prey, where it bends its body before lunging forward like a snake, according to The Age.

He shared that one of the deckhands tried to pick up the shark by its tail, but it managed to turn around and initially avoid being captured.

"I've caught a lot of sharks in my life, but it seemed like it was really looking at you and quite aggressively going for you," Guillot said.

Shark biologist Mark Meekan of the Australian Institute of Marine Science shared that the shark is usually spotted in waters off New Zealand, Japan and the British Isles. However, some maps show distributions that cross the Victorian coast, which was likely how Guillot ended up encountering the creature, according to Sydney Morning Herald.

The rare frilled shark species dates back 80 million years ago and were often referred to as a living fossil, according to ABC.

The CEO of South East Trawl Fishing Association, Simon Boag, said it was the first time in living memory that the shark had been sighted. However, he assured other fisherman that they probably didn't need to worry about encountering more of these creatures, especially since they were known to prefer deeper waters.

"Almost all the grounds deeper than 700 meters are closed to trawling, so there wouldn't be any pressure on them and there'd be very few caught," he said. "This guy was just unlucky."

The frilled shark has been taken in by Griffith's Sea Shell Museum in Lakes Entrance to be studied and will be displayed to the public after a few weeks.