Scientists discover 'Dinosaur-era' frilled shark with 300 teeth off the coast of Portugal

An atypical study led by a group of scientists from the Institute for the Sea and Atmosphere has discovered one of the oldest living species of the frilled shark swimming off the coast of Portugal.

Researchers believe that the rare male fish dates back 80 million years to the 'age of the dinosaurs'.

The group of scientists caught the frilled shark at a depth of 700 metres while working on a project to minimise unwanted catches in commercial fishing. The prehistoric predator was measured 1.5 metres long and has a long, snake-like body and around 300 teeth.

Talking about their latest findings Professor Margarida Castro, a researcher from the University of the Algarve said, "The shark gets its name from the frilled arrangement of its 300 teeth which allows it to trap squid, fish and other sharks in sudden lunges," reported Sic Noticias.

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According to researchers, having extra grills, eyes on the side of heads and spineless backfins are some of the specialities of this oldest group of sharks.

Shark species found last year in Russia

Earlier, in 2016 Roman Fedortsov, a fisherman caught another shark species in Russia. Fedortsov took to micro-blogging site Twitter to share his findings with the world.