Ghost sharks exist. No, they are not the spirit of dead sharks, but an actual type of cartilaginous fish formally known as chimaeras. These fish kind of look like sharks (they are their closest living relatives) but way scarier, with vacant eyes and grey bodies that look like they were shoddily stitched together, like a deep sea dwelling version of Frankenstein’s monster.
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Chimaeras are so rare that 40 percent of their population were discovered in the past 15 years. In 2016, the first ever video of a ghost shark appeared and people were understandably freaked out.
Their sex habits are also extremely bizarre. Females have two uteri, something that they have in common with sharks, and the males have their reproductive organs located in their heads. This friendly penis has hooks that allows them to grasp the female and make it harder for her to escape when they’re mating.
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The most interesting biological fact is that for these animals copulation and breeding can happen at different times. Females have a special sperm storage in their heads that allows them to keep the sperm there and use it a later time when it’s more convenient to lay their eggs. This is an important quality for animals that live in the deep sea, where food and mates can be hard to find.
There’s not a lot of information available on this species, but I’m convinced that they’re the coolest animals ever.
