Rare prehistoric shark appears off the coast of Japan

This 1.6 metre long eel-like animal, identified as a deep sea frill shark, is usually 600 metres underwater according to Awashima Marine Park officials.

The sharks, while they usually turn up in deep sea trawler fishing nets, are rarely seen alive. Marine park officials believe a particular seasonal up current from the deep seas carried this one up to the surface.

This one was a female weighing up to 7.5 kilogrammes and unlike most other sharks has six gills and bizarre forked teeth.

[Visitor]: "Its got shark's skin,"

Shark skin in Japan was once commonly used by Japanese carpenters as sand paper.

[Visitor]: "Its weird,"

Very little is known of this rare deep sea shark, but it is believed to eat squid, fish and other sharks. Females are believed to have a one or two year pregnancy -- making it possibly the longest gestation period of any vertebrae.

Fossil records can be found of this shark up to 80 million years ago, and like another famous deep sea denizen, the Coelancanth, is called a "living fossil", according to the marine park.

[Mitsuru Sato, Awashima Marine park official]: "We've found fossils of these frill sharks buried in stratum (earth layers) 80 million years old so this is truly a living fossil,"

While the park official hoped to have kept this deep sea monster alive, but the shark was unable to survive outside its deep sea environment and died after soon after capture