Rare Alien-Looking Viper Sharks Caught In Taiwan

Taiwan Fisheries Research Institute conducted a marine study off the coast of Taitung County, South East Taiwan and found five specimens of rare viper sharks that actually looks like alien sharks, in a depth of 350 meters.

One of the fish survived for one day only, when marine biologists attempted to save it using a 10-degree centigrade cold water.

These exact species of shark that really look like an alien shark has only been available on the coasts of Japan, Hawaii and Taiwan in the Pacific.

It was initially mentioned by Fumio Oe and Kenji Mochizuki in the Japanese Journal of Ichthyology.

The viper sharks, Trigonognathus kabeyai, are indeed weird creatures. However, they are not likely to hurt people. They live in deep waters, in a small population. Moreover, they weren’t discovered until 1986 since they are very much intangible.

Image Credit: Japanese Journal of Ichthyology

The sharks have light-diffusing places on their undersides. They got their name from their extending jaws that leap down from their mouths.

They have a small size, compared with other big sharks, at a maximum of around 21 inches.

However, this following feature of the sharks is not as extremely rare as it sounds. Even the famous Great White Sharks have jaws that jump from their mouths.

Trigonognathus kabeyai’s head

When viper sharks need to eat, they stab the fish with their poky teeth, before swallowing the food. Most of their catches happen at night, which implies that the sharks swim into shallower waters to feed.

This piece of data has inspired comparisons to the Alien of Ridley Scott’s films. Mainly because the public was curious why biologists attempted to keep one alive.

Marine biologist and shark expert Dave Ebert has a theory for why only a few of these sharks are found.

“It sort of reminds me of a lanternshark that has undergone some kind of diabolical experiment. It is definitely a bizarre-looking shark,” he said.