The recipe for a good virus usually includes a flashy video or photo, interesting facts and, why not, a bit of fiction. It should not be. However, consciously or unconsciously, the truth is that more often than they should, viral videos and images are supported in false ideas. And that’s exactly what’s happening with the video shark supposedly 80 million years which has recently spread over the Internet.
On the positive side, in this case it does not seem that fake information be intentional because it does have an explanation. The shark specimen shown in the images is not 80 million years old. It is not known how many of them he has, but life expectancy is infinitely lower. What’s going on is what they found fossils the same species that is 80 million years old.
It’s no less fascinating because it’s a species of shark that hasn’t changed much since the days when dinosaurs still roamed the Earth. But no, specimens that are alive to this day they are not that old.
Old shark, but not very
Another one of the most common ingredients of a viral video in its antiquity. As a rule, they were recorded many years ago, but for some time the interest of Internet users returns to them much later.
As for the video of this old shark, it was recorded in 2007 in Awashima Marine Park, in Japan. However, it was on October 14 of this year that he took to Twitter, a post that had already given him almost 9 million views.
As explained from IFLScienceanimal in pictures eel shark (chlamydoselach angineus). This is a rare species that is usually found at great depths, around 1500 meters. However, some much more superficial specimens have been seen, at depths of over 200 meters.
Dark brown in color, about 2 meters long and with a body similar to that of an eel, is considered living fossilbecause it still retains the primitive characteristics seen in fossils 80 million years. This ranges from the aforementioned body shape to having 300 trident-shaped teeth arranged in 25 rows.
As for its age, according to the logic of the video, it is impossible to tell with the naked eye how old the shark is. However, this species is known to live for about 25 years. Of course, there are other types of sharks that live much longer. 5 centuries. They attract a lot of attention from aging researchers, although they are difficult to study, especially because of the difficulty of accessing them.
In any case, it is clear that this viral video, for a change, failed to guarantee that the shark in question is 80 million years old. Sometimes something like a broken phone happens to these things. As information circulates, it changes until it reaches a point where something like the age of a living animal is confused with the age of animals. the oldest fossilyes The little detail that matters.
Source: Hiper Textual
