Roman Fedortsov, 39, has become a viral sensation on social media because of the photos of weird sea creatures he captured while exploring leagues under the sea. He has made the headlines again after sharing a dragon-like fish that he pulled off the coast of Tromsø in Norway, adding to his collection of bizarre deep-sea animals.
Fedortsov usually discovered the unique creatures in the Norwegian and Barents seas in north Russia, although he sometimes finds a few in the Atlantic.
What is This Dragon-Like Fish?
Working on commercial trawlers that searched for cod, haddock, and mackerel allowed Fedortsov to explore the seas that contain various creatures, including those that people do not usually see. The Daily Star reported that he was fishing in the Norwegian Sea when he came across a dragon-like fish with large eyes, a long body tail, and a light pink appearance.
As usual, he took a photo of the fish and shared the picture on Instagram with his 646,000 followers. He captioned his post with a quote from G.F. Lovecraft, which says: "It's one thing to chase something nameless, but quite another thing to find it."
The post has garnered over 22,000 likes and the netizens are debating on the comment section to identify the bizarre sea creature. One of the commenters said that it looks like a newly-hatched dragon, while another said that it could be a sea or ocean Chupacabra. For the rest, it was a real-life cartoon flying dragon fish.
But it was later on identified as a chimaera, a cartilaginous fish also called "ghost sharks." According to MailOnline, Fedortsov's nets were dropped into the Twilight Zone, which is between 3,300 to 6,600 feet below the surface.
What Are Chimaeras?
Ghost sharks (Callorhinchus milii) are unique members of the chimaera that branched from sharks over 40 million years ago. According to Florida Museum, these creatures can be easily identified because of their huge, high-set eyes and club-set snouts designed to forage food in the sand.
They also come in many different names, such as elephant shark, silver trumpeter, and whitefish. Ghost sharks are commercially caught along the continental shelf off southern Australia and New Zealand, in which their meat is used as "fish and chips." In ancient times, people would catch ghost sharks during summer and dry them before storing them in kelp bags.
Humans should handle them with care because of the long spine in the first dorsal fin that it uses as a defense mechanism against potential predators.
Today, the IUCN has listed ghost sharks as "Least Concern" to indicate that the species are abundant throughout its geographic range. Australia and New Zealand have implemented a law on "Total Allowable Catch" quotas that provide refuge for many shark species, including ghost sharks, to maintain their population.
RELATED ARTICLE : Rare Ghost Shark Hatchling Discovered at A Depth of 1200M on Chatham Rise, New Zealand
Check out more news and information on Sharks in Science Times.
