"Living Fossil" - can there possibly a more stale term for some deep dwelling, lobish fish we know nothing about?
Get better wire copy, people.
Goblin Shark, Fringe Shark... whatever. I'd be more excited if someone spotted the rare "flying monkey shark." Here's the wire copy we can expect for that day:
Associated Press - A LIVING FOSSILE, never before photographed alive, was retrieved from a fishing boat yesterday. The rare Flying Monkey Shark, can be seen in this video swimming in tight circles thinking "what the hell just happened to me" Scientists are positively giddy over this 3.765 meter (whatever that is in real feet and inches) shark, with its roundish snout and roundish fins, and rows or sharpish teeth (get the teeth in the shot, boys...) The slow swimming shark lives at great depths in the cold waters off of (insert some continent here) and was captured in the nets of these lucky fisherman (who will not make a buck off of this incidental catch, even though millions will marvel at the wonder of this beauty) at a depth of 4.6358 zillion meters (that’s pretty darn deep for those of you keeping score at home.) The Shark will be on display so scientists from around the globe flock to study this rare beast (and as long as we can leverage the PR and maybe make some cash) blah blah blah...
Maybe its just me. Been here, seen that. Sure its newsworthy, but its nothing to get real excited about IMO. There are likely thousands of these rare living fossils down there, and if we're all so excited about them, why not go find them on purpose?
Anyway - rock on deep water fisherman. You guys hold the keys to the door of deep water research.
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Ken
