Nasty bugger, isn't he?
A new species of ghostshark has been identified off of the California coast. That's his picture above, and if you're saying to yourself 'that's a shark?' then you're not alone. He's actually an ancient relative of modern day sharks, not making him your run of the mill jaws.
Scientists describe the ghostshark as having several traits that are shark like, and some that are just plain out there. One of the strangest features the creature is what scientists believe to be a sexual organ, that comes out of his forehead. He's been deemed the scientific name of Hydrolagus melanophasma, but we here at Bonus Time have a more fitting name for him -- Dickhead.
Not too much is known about Richie yet, and in fact he was actually discovered quite some time ago. There is actually a museum specimen of the species at Scripps Oceanographic Institute in California. It wasn't until researchers actually took a closer look at him that they realized he was another species. You can read more about him in the original article found here.
Pretty cool that a new species was discovered, and then confirmed because another one of them had been sitting on a shelf somewhere for years unnoticed. Pretty good Bonus Time for old Tricky Dick there if you ask me.
Oh and I'm not gonna pretend I'd heard of 'ghostsharks' before today, but I hope there are more of them out there. Ghostshark > Regular Shark any day of the week.
Scientists describe the ghostshark as having several traits that are shark like, and some that are just plain out there. One of the strangest features the creature is what scientists believe to be a sexual organ, that comes out of his forehead. He's been deemed the scientific name of Hydrolagus melanophasma, but we here at Bonus Time have a more fitting name for him -- Dickhead.
Not too much is known about Richie yet, and in fact he was actually discovered quite some time ago. There is actually a museum specimen of the species at Scripps Oceanographic Institute in California. It wasn't until researchers actually took a closer look at him that they realized he was another species. You can read more about him in the original article found here.
Pretty cool that a new species was discovered, and then confirmed because another one of them had been sitting on a shelf somewhere for years unnoticed. Pretty good Bonus Time for old Tricky Dick there if you ask me.
Oh and I'm not gonna pretend I'd heard of 'ghostsharks' before today, but I hope there are more of them out there. Ghostshark > Regular Shark any day of the week.
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