Smile you son of a bitch! 'Smiling shark' provokes debate as to its species

It was a case of smile, you son of a fish when an Australian deep sea angler hooked something of a shark surprise.

Posting the image on Facebook, Trapman Bermagui sparked varied debate as to the actual species of shark he had reeled in.

The intriguing photo was posted with the caption 'the face of a deep sea shark', which had been caught at a depth of 650 metres off the coast of New South Wales.

It has been speculated that the shark could be everything from a cookiecutter shark, a goblin shark, a lantern shark or even a rough skin shark.

But rather than the debate being around the species of shark, perhaps the talk should have been more about why there was the need to catch and have this shark die. Short answer is, there wasn't.

It's a shame then that another shark has had to die for its unusual features owing to where it lives...sorry lived. Whatever its species that shark should still be swimming in the deep where it called home.

This is little more than keeping the sharks as monsters narrative, and is little different to a freakshow with fish on Facebook.

Words by Dean Newman

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