Five viper Amia calva were caught off the coast of Taitung in Taiwan by the Taiwanese Fisheries Research Institute earlier this hebdomad . The organisation had been conducting a survey on local fish when they came across this extraordinarily rare and strange haul .
deplorably , all except one were dead by the time they ’d been pull up out of the ocean . The lone survivor die the following day , but wildlife experts go for all five bodies can be used to determine out more about this little - studied , little - understood fish .
The viper dogfish – which is actually a strain of shark – is so super shy and evasive ( despite its appearance ) that it bumbled along undisturbed by human activity for centuries . It was not discover until 1986 and did n’t receive prescribed credit until four year after that .
The major reason for this is that they lurk deep underwater in the Pacific Ocean around the coasts of Hawaii , Japan , and Taiwan . This particular batch was constitute at depth of 350 meter ( 1,148 foot ) , allot tolocal news reports .
As far as we know , they populate in waters 270 to 360 meters ( 890 to 1,180 animal foot ) below ocean level , but experts depend their habitat could go even inscrutable than that . This is because the specimens we come across are feel during dark - meter fishing expeditions and it is likely that viper dogfish , like many deep - sea animate being , transmigrate verticallyto feed when the Dominicus goes down .
Another factor is their unassuming appearance and pocket-sized sizing . Dave Ebert , program director at Pacific Shark Research Center , believes they are caught more often than reported .
" I surmise they may be get a bite more , but unless someone knows what they are or is keenly interested in these ' lose shark ' they normally go unreported , " Ebert toldEarth Touch News .
Viper dogfish are also diminutive , which could mean that they sneak through nets and go undetected . From snout to tail tip , they do n’t originate to more than 54 cm ( 21 column inch ) . Females be given to be a picayune turgid than males .
Viper dogfish are a breed of lantern shark , which put them in the same household as theninja shark , thesouthern lantern shark , and the late discoveredEtmopterus lailae . While it might bet like something out of your nightmare , they are , in world , completely harmless to humans .
Instead , they prefer to run on crustaceans and bony fish , and trap prey ( likely whole ) with their acerate leaf - similar teeth and extendible jaws . In fact , their jaw are such an telling and distinctive feature , it ’s how they got their scientific name , Trigonognathus , which literally translates to “ a trilateral jaw ” .
