Researchers in Scotland have made a startling discovery. According to a report from UPI, biologists working with the research agency Marine Scotland pulled a false catshark, or Pseudotrakias microdon, which oddly resembles a piece of living room furniture, from the icy depths earlier this month.
The shark is often called the sofa shark because of its cushy pillow-like body. What’s even cooler is that nobody has laid eyes on a living specimen in more than 15 years. Most Scottish nationals still don’t know that the shark lives in their waters.
In fact, they may be right. Scientists said that the sofa shark has never been captured off the coast of Scotland before. The sofa shark measured six feet long, but other specimens have been shown to grow as long as 10 feet.
Sofa sharks are quite elusive, spending the majority of their time well below the surface of the ocean. Some individuals have been found diving as deep as 6,200 feet.
Scientists found the shark off the coast of the islands of Barra and St. Kilda. Working with the Scottish Shark Tagging Programme, the researchers are hoping to catalogue all of the different types of shark species in Scottish waters. So far, they have catalogued 72 different shark species. Previously, researchers believed there were only 32.
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