Devil of the deep.
You’ll never know what you might catch while trolling in the deep: Commercial anglers made waves in science circles after snagging a super rare, nearly 2,000-pound “goblin shark” while trawling for fish off the coast of Taiwan.
“It belongs to the prehistoric shark family and is a very rare living fossil,” representatives with the Taiwan Ocean Artistic Museum, which recently purchased the behemoth bycatch, told Jam Press. “This species has translucent skin, a pink body, and evil fangs.”
This particular specimen was allegedly caught by an Australian trawler off Su’ao Township, which is located 45 miles southeast of Taipei, Yahoo News reported.
Also known as the “Devil Shark,” the ghoulish-looking goblin shark is named for its undulating rows of snaggleteeth, translucent gray-pink skin, and a giant schnoz, as seen in photos of the latest haul posted on the Taiwan museum’s Facebook page.
Despite its nightmarish visage, the goblin shark isn’t a threat to humans.
Instead, it prefers to hunt squid and other prey in its habitat at the bottom of the Indian, Atlantic and Pacific oceans — which can be as deep as 4,000 feet below the surface, National Geographic reported.
At 15.4 feet long and weighing around 1,763 pounds, the aforementioned denizen of the deep was the largest goblin shark ever caught off Taiwan.
The sea beast was so big it had to be transported via forklift and loaded onto the back of a flatbed truck, video shows.
Unfortunately, this wasn’t the only shark that was accidentally snagged by the trawler.
To shark lovers’ chagrin, this particular specimen was pregnant with six pups, each weighing around 8 pounds and measuring four feet long.
All had fully formed teeth, leading scientists to believe that they were just about to be born. Goblin sharks develop in eggs and hatch inside the mom.
It’s lucky the public knows about the specimen at all: The museum claimed that a restaurant almost purchased the carcass to sell as food before they stepped in and acquired it.
“After fighting for it, the Taiwan Ocean Art Museum bought it,” declared the institution which plans to study the elusive bottom-feeder and put it on display in the near future.
Unfortunately, due to the species’ elusive nature, scholarship on the goblin shark is scarce.
Scientists do know that the species is a solitary, sluggish creature, characteristics that can make pursuing prey a challenge.
Thankfully, this predator is able to overcome its locomotive limitations with superior weaponry: They boast an extendable jaw that rockets out and ensnares prey at warp speed like the monster’s inner mandibles in “Alien.”
This is not the only alienesque bycatch to be snagged of late. In September, fishermen in Mexico made waves after landing an oarfish, an elusive denizen of the deep that’s rumored to be a sign of impending earthquakes.