Freaky New Ghostshark ID’d Off California Coast

• A new ghostshark species has been identified off the coast of Southern California, and it’s darker and weirder than any shark we know.
• The purplish black ancient relative of the modern shark comes packed with a suite of odd features that give its taxonomical family the name chimaera, after the mythical beast made from the parts of many animals.
• “It’s a big weird looking freaky thing,” said ichthyologist Doug Long of the California Academy of Sciences. “They have some shark characteristics and they have some that are very non-shark.”
• Perhaps the most intriguing feature of the newly described species, Hydrolagus melanophasma, is a presumed sexual organ that extends from its forehead called a tentaculum.

(Who needs the Montauk Monster Movie viral campaign when these things are real?)