When the naval officers pulled the animal out of the water, they discovered that what at first glance looked like a shark actually had a face that looked more like a pig. The group of Italian sailors were shocked and somewhat frightened.
The sailors “freaked out” after finding an animal with the body of a shark and the face of a pig
A group of Italian sailors were shocked and confused after encountering a fish that looks like some sort of strange cross between a pig and a shark.
The unusual creature was spotted floating in the water by the crew of a naval ship anchored at the Darsena Medicea, which is located in the town of Portoferraio, on the Italian island of Elba.
They quickly mobilized to remove the strange creature from the water, and discovered that it appeared to have the body of a shark, but the characteristic face of a pig.
Upon closer inspection by people who really know what they’re talking about, it turned out that the animal was actually an angular shark – Oxynotus centrina, to those in the know – that usually inhabits some 700 meters below the waves.
This rarity of the deep is also known, for obvious reasons, as the pig-faced shark.
Despite living so deep, the angular shark is listed as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
However, even though it is endangered, locals say it has been spotted on the surface on occasion.
Hundreds of comments flooded the web, including many that wrongly criticized the sailors for allegedly purposely catching and killing the endangered shark.
Once pulled from the water, it was taken directly to the port office, where it was studied and eventually disposed of.
