Naval officers from Portoferraio, a town on the island of Elba (Italy), recently discovered a fish floating offshore, to say the least intriguing.
They have indeed brought out of the water an animal having the body of a shark and whose face is similar to that of a pig.
Very quickly, several rumors circulated claiming that it was some kind of mutant, reports an article in the Mirror, relayed by RTL. But it is not.
Specialists have managed to identify this species with a flat muzzle and two dorsal fins.
a rare and endangered creature
It is actually an Oxynotus centrina, an extremely rare and endangered angular rough shark.
An extremely rare Angular roughshark (Oxynotus centrina). Sometimes known as a “pig-faced shark” that normally lives up 2,300 feet below the surface, this example was recently spotted by naval officers, floating in the waters at the Darsena Medicea Marin… https://t.co/vgcBx65cs0 pic.twitter.com/F7DUOWebF9
– what’s in the name (@shadow_aniket) September 10, 2021
чрезвычайно редкая угловатая акула (Oxynotus centrina) .Ее также называют акулой с лицом свиньи, которая обычно живет на глубине 2300 футов под поверхностью.чрезвычайно редкая угловатая акула живет на глубине 2300 футов pic.twitter.com/8p7LBe9LxR
– bichik (@bichikota) September 10, 2021
The sea creature is on the IUCN (International Union for the Conservation of Nature) Red List, which is the most comprehensive inventory of the overall conservation status of species.
Experts had never seen such a shark before because it usually prefers to spend its time more than 700 meters below the surface.
A specialist explained to our British colleagues that if this species is nicknamed “pigfish”, it is not only because of its appearance.
When it comes out of the water, it also utters a sort of growl, like the cry of the omnivorous mammal.