'Ghost shark' was discovered for the first time

US scientists have discovered a mysterious shark in the eastern Pacific. In this species, the genitals of the male fish lie on the forehead.

Douglas Long - a marine expert at Oakland's Museum of Art, History and Natural Science in California, USA - said he and his colleagues had taken a photo of a strange shark at a depth of several kilometers near California coast. It has a length of about 0.9 m. Because this fish does not like light and is difficult to detect, scientists call them " ghost sharks ".

According to National Geographic , since the 60s of the last century, people have been rumored about the existence of " ghost sharks ". Since then, the scientific community has been using radar to search for them but not seeing them. It was not until recently that a team of experts from Oakland Museum of Art, History and Science discovered their habitat after searching in the fossils of the eastern Pacific. The size, shape and proportions of " ghost shark " parts of the body are completely different from those of existing sharks. So the team concludes that they are unknown species.

The living ghost shark ( upper ) and fossil of this species are in the Museum of Oakland's Art, History and Natural Science. (Photo: National Geographic).

In the September issue of the journal Zootaxa, Long's group said the number of " ghost sharks " has increased rapidly in recent years. They are distributed mainly near the California coast and Mexico's Baja California peninsula. " Ghost sharks " have some characteristics that we have never seen in any animal on earth . For example, the male genitalia is on the forehead and can stretch like a spring. That part - shaped like a baton with a sharp tip - can be used to excite or pull the female shark. Of course, that is only the judgment of scientists.

Long said that " ghost sharks " belong to the earliest group of animals that appear on earth. Perhaps they began to separate from other sharks during evolution from about 400 million years ago. " Ghost sharks " survive today because they adapt to the harsh environment on the ocean floor.

" The existence of the ghost shark shows us the ocean is very complicated. It is possible that the ocean has many species that humans do not know, " Long said.