Unusual-Looking Marine Animal Washes up on Australian Beach

A stock photo of a beach (*Shutterstock)

A strange creature washed up on the beach in Victoria, Australia, and it looks like a mix between a shark and an eel.

Cosy Seaside Escape posted photos of the unusual-looking animal on Facebook after it washed up on Golden Beach in Gippsland.

“Walking along the beach and saw this catshark who came out to sunbake,” the account wrote.

A catshark usually stays on the ocean floor and eats small fish, according to News.com.au.

A number of users were impressed by the find.

“That is incredible- nature at it’s best,” wrote one person on Facebook.

One person commented that they believed they’re rare.

“I’m not sure, I have read that they are one of the largest families of sharks. They are bottom feeders ie. spend most of their time on the ocean floor eating small fish, and they are harmless to humans,” Cosy Seaside Escape wrote.

Added another, “I’m not sure if this is a good thing... someone else spotted another one of these beached only a couple of weeks ago. What’s going on in the deep sea that they are surfacing?”

Another wrote, “Looks like it’s been beached.”

Certain types of catshark can also glow in the dark.

The chain catshark and the swell shark can absorb blue light from the ocean and emit it again at lower wavelengths, making them glow bright green.

Dr. David Gruber, a researcher, said he was aware of biofluorescence in coral, but added that he wasn’t aware that sharks have it.

“It is kind of like out of a sci-fi novel,” he said, according to News.com.au. “In 2014 we were studying biofluorescence in coral, and we accidentally got photobombed by a green fluorescent eel, and so we went on an expedition and found 180 species of biofluorescent fish.”

Megalodon Tooth Found

A North Carolina girl discovered an ancient shark tooth while she was on spring break.

Avery Fauth discovered a megalodon shark tooth recently at North Topsail Beach. The megalodon went extinct millions of years ago, and it is believed to have been the largest shark ever.

“I’m looking around and I see something buried in the sand. I uncovered it and it keeps coming, and it’s this big tooth, and then I hold it up and I’m screaming for my mom,” she told WECT, which reported on her finding.

“I was really shocked and excited for her that she found something that big,” a family member told the news outlet.

Other than the one tooth, she and her sisters found five others. But hers was the biggest.

“I was just like, is this a dream, because I didn’t believe I found it, and then I took it out and it was one [a megalodon tooth],” Fauth added. “They’re really rare to find and they’re some pretty big teeth and they’re pretty cool.”

Fauth’s father said that he had been searching for megalodon teeth for 25 years, but he never found anything.

The girl said that she’s planning to tell her class about the find when she returns from spring break. However, she won’t take it to school because she’s afraid someone might break it.