Scientists have discovered a f#*@en skinless shark

We all know that the depths of the ocean house a million weird and wonderful creatures. Some of these, according to scientists, are yet to be discovered. Some of them, are f**ked-up variations of creatures that are already known to exist. Of course, the reasons for that are many and varied and that’s exactly why scientists are wondering just how in the blue f**k a shark with no skin and no teeth has managed to survive in waters off the coast of Sardinia.

The shark in question is a blackmouth catshark, and usually, it would have some pretty rad patterning, some mouth tentacles, and teeth. This one, though, was all f**ked up. It had no skin, no teeth, and no patterning. Naturally, this kinda means it should have been dead.

Credit: Antonello Mulas of the University of Cagliari, Italy

Obviously, though it wasn’t. Caught in a trawl at a depth of 500 meters, the little bugger was, apparently, quite a happy little chap. Yeah, nah, because this species usually eats its tucker whole, it doesn’t actually need its chompers too much.

Of course, scientists are pretty keen to find out exactly what’s going on. It only stands to reason that if something other than a simple mutation has affected this little critter, they need to know why.

As it stands, speculation runs the gamut. The authors of the report in Fish Biology reckon, “long-term exposure to chemically contaminated sites could be to blame, as well as ocean warming or acidification due to climate change.”

Credit: Antonello Mulas of the University of Cagliari, Italy

They’re not shy in saying that’s the only reason, though. Yeah, nah, they’re hedging their bets and saying that, “Alternatively, it might be an error that occurred naturally during the animal’s embryonic development.”

Either way, it’s important for them to find out, because if humans are causing it, we can expect more of the same s**t in the future – and we all know that’s how zombie apocalypses start.

Credit: Antonello Mulas of the University of Cagliari, Italy

Final thought: We’re not gonna speculate ourselves. Nah, we’re fair dinkum not the experts. What we will say, though, is that whatever’s happened here is pretty interesting and makes us wonder what else is down there in the ocean that we don’t know about.

Just in case you missed it, here’s one of Ozzy’s latest commentary videos…Ozzy Man Reviews: Baboon bites bum

H/T: IFLSCIENCE.