A shark caught from more than 2,100ft under the sea by a fisherman has left social media users shocked by its disturbing appearance.
Trapman Bermagui posted a photo on his Facebook page of a bizarre black and blue-eyed sea creature with a set of protruding razor white teeth that appeared to be set in an eerie half-grin.
The pointy-nosed shark was caught in the deep sea off the the coast of Australia by the commercial fisherman before being posted online on September 12.
The caption read: “The face of a deep sea rough skin shark. All the way from 650m.”
Since then the post has been liked 1,500 times and gathered more than 280 comments from people wondering exactly what it is.
Many users replied that it appeared to be a cookiecutter shark – also known as a cigar shark – that is unique for the ‘cookie-shaped’ wounds it leaves when biting.
The capture of the strange sea predator (pictured) has even caused disagreements between shark experts over its identity ( Image: Trapman Bermagui/Facebook)
Others suggested it could be a goblin shark or even that it was “man made” either by “a sculptor or mixing of DNA “.
One person described the bizarre fish as the “stuff of nightmares ” while another said it gave them “the major creeps” and “I can’t stand to look at it but every time I look away I see it in my head I can’t believe a shark looks like that”.
Despite the online debate about its identity, Trapman was quick to stamp his own fishing authority on the various claims.
He told Newsweek : “Totally not a cookiecutter. It’s a rough skin shark, also known as a species of endeavor dog shark.
“These sharks are common in depths greater than 600 meters. We catch them in the wintertime usually.”
Dean Grubbs, associate director of research at the Florida State University Coastal and Marine Laboratory, also told Newsweek: “In my deep-sea research, we have caught quite a few of them in the Gulf of Mexico and in the Bahamas.
“Ours have come from depths of 740m to 1160m – around 2,400 to 3,800ft – so a bit deeper than this report.”
He added that the species is part of the sleeper shark family, the same as the gigantic Greenland sharks.
However, Christopher Lowe, professor and director of the California State University Long Beach Shark Lab, disagreed and said: “Looks to me like a deepwater kitefin shark, which are known in the waters off Australia.”
Whatever the species of shark it may be, one Facebook user quipped: “This shark has better teeth than most of Britan [sic].”
