Researchers filming off the coast of California captured a wondrous creature on video for the first time: the mysterious and elusive chimaera, or ‘ghost shark’.
The Guardian reports:
The team from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Center had sent a remote operated vehicle down to depths of 2,000 metres (6,700ft) when the creature appeared on their screens.
Also known as chimaeras, the creatures are related to sharks and rays. But unlike their namesakes, ghost sharks have tooth plates instead of teeth and open channels on their heads and faces that give them the appearance of having been stitched together like a rag doll.
Most remarkably perhaps, they have a retractable penis on their heads.
By Andy Towle – Full Story at Towleroad.com