🤯 Did You Know (click to read)
Its six pairs of frilled gill slits give it a prehistoric, almost serpentine appearance rarely seen in modern sharks.
The frilled shark, Chlamydoselachus anguineus, possesses around 300 trident-shaped teeth arranged in roughly 25 rows, all angled backward to prevent escape once prey is seized. Unlike most sharks, its elongated, eel-like body can reach lengths approaching 2 meters, and rare reports suggest even larger individuals. The design functions like a living trap, allowing it to grip slippery deep-sea squid in total darkness.
💥 Impact (click to read)
Those teeth are not simply numerous; they are positioned so densely that prey becomes ensnared the instant contact is made. In the crushing pressures of depths beyond 1,000 meters, where sunlight never penetrates, escape is virtually impossible once the jaws close.
The existence of such a primitive, fang-lined predator thriving largely unchanged for tens of millions of years challenges the assumption that extreme specialization requires modern evolution. In a biome where food is scarce and encounters are rare, the frilled shark’s nightmarish dental architecture is a solution so extreme it feels engineered for fiction.
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