A fisherman made quite the bizarre catch off the coast of Miami over the weekend — just take a look.
"Check out this huge beast known as a Hookskate shark. The thing is about 800 pounds and usually seen hundreds of feet below sea level." (Via WXYZ)
Captain Mark Quartiano, aka "Mark the Shark," says he hooked the rare find — a 14 footer — while shooting a series of shows for a Japanese television network. (Via WTVJ)
He told ABC, "I’ve caught one like it before, but never that size, not in the last 30 years I’ve been doing this. It’s a very rare fish. It’s like a big gigantic whipping stingray. It’s a dinosaur."
The Hookskate is an elusive creature, and not much is known about it.
According to The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, it mostly lives on muddy bottoms of the continental slope at depths of up to 1,000 feet.
Because the creature is so rare, Mark the Shark released it back into the ocean.
But not before snapping a pic and posting it to his Instagram page. (Via Instagram / officialmarktheshark)
