Frilled Shark - Human Interactions

Human Interactions

The frilled shark has seldom been encountered alive, and thus poses no danger to humans (though scientists have accidentally cut themselves examining its teeth). On August 27, 2004, the first observation of this species in its natural habitat was made by the ROV Johnson Sea Link II, on the Blake Plateau off the southeastern United States. On January 21, 2007, a Japanese fisherman discovered a 1.6 m (5.2 ft) long female alive at the surface, perhaps there because of illness or weakness from the warm water. It was brought to Awashima Marine Park in Shizuoka, where it died after a few hours. Garman, and numerous authors since, have advanced the frilled shark as an explanation for sea serpent sightings. Because of the shark's modest size, some cryptozoologists have posited the existence of a giant relative, particularly as larger Chlamydoselachus species are known from the fossil record.

Small numbers of frill sharks are caught incidentally by various deepwater commercial fisheries around the world, using trawls, gillnets, and longlines. In particular, it is regularly taken in Suruga Bay in bottom gillnets meant for sea breams and gnomefishes, and in midwater trawls meant for the shrimp Sergia lucens. Japanese fishers regard it as a nuisance, as it damages the nets. This shark is sometimes sold for meat or processed into fishmeal, but is not economically significant. Because of its very low reproductive rate and the continuing expansion of commercial fisheries into its habitat, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has listed it as Near Threatened.