Frilled sharks are a mysterious deep-water shark, often called a “living fossil”. One of the oldest known shark species, they have been around seemingly unchanged for 80 million years. Their unique shape is characterized by a long, slender, eel-like body and 6 pairs of frilled gill slits. They are dark brown to grey in color on their dorsal side and lighter underneath, with short, rounded paddle shaped pectoral fins. Their mouth is located on the terminal end of their rounded snout and filled with over 300 slender needle-like teeth.
While scientists had believed these sharks have been unchanged for 80 million years, a 2020 study may disprove this assumption.
At-A-Glance
Scientific Name – Chlamydoselachus anguineus
Size – 7 ft/ 2 m.
Habitat – Widely though irregularly distributed throughout the deep sea & open waters. In the eastern Pacific Ocean, off of Hawaii, and from southern California to northern Chile. In the western Pacific, off of Japan and south to New Zealand, New South Wales and Tasmania in Australia. In the Western Indian Ocean off of South Africa. In Atlantic waters, off northern Norway to northern Namibia.
Diet: Favorite food: squid. Also bony fish and sharks.
Reproduction – Live birth / internal fertilization: The embryos of Frilled Sharks are attached to “yolk sacs” so that they get nutrition as they grow into juveniles inside the mother shark. Following a 1-2 year gestation, the mother gives live birth to up to 15 juvenile young, around 2 ft/0.61m long each, who can already survive on their own.
Lifespan – Estimated to be 25 years.
IUCN Listing – As of 2023, “Least Concern”.
Protection – Not specifically; may pass through protected areas.
Bet You Didn’t Know…
- They swim like eels and use a serpentine motion to move through the water.
- Sources differ on how they got their name! Oceana says that Frilled Sharks are named for their frill-like gill slits while Live Science states they get their name from the frill-shape arrangement of their 300 teeth!
- They are a part of the taxonomic order “Hexanchiformes” along with six and seven-gilled sharks. Together they may comprise the most primitive sharks in the world in terms of evolution (but we will look deeper into this later). As adults, all of these sharks live in the deep sea.
- The Frilled Shark is a deep-sea shark. How deep do they go? Scientists say they can live up to 4,900 ft/1,500 m under the ocean’s surface.
Ready To Dive In?
- If you are ready to dive with these sharks, the next news will be unfortunate. Swimming with Frilled Sharks is not possible due to their habitat in the deep sea where the water pressure is too extreme for divers. They are only rarely seen.
Science In The Spotlight
So far, we have learned about the basics of Frilled Sharks, but what about all of those debates around their existence? These sharks are said to be “living fossils” who have swum the oceans for 80 million years, yet scientists are not so sure.
They decided to do more research to discover more about their origins. Read on to find out.
After Bites Frilled Shark Quiz
Take the quiz and test your new found knowledge.
Written by Medea Ramnath-Christiansen, B.S. in Marine Science.