Researchers in Australia recently discovered a new species of demon catshark – a dusky deepwater shark with striking white eyes – by following a trail of some odd-looking eggs.
Years ago, Brett Human, then a volunteer at the Western Australian Museum, came across an odd, yolk-yellow shark egg in the museum’s collection that had deep T-shaped ridges. Female catsharks incubate the eggs in their bodies for a while before sticking them to the sea floor, where they can take many months to hatch.
Shark egg cases, also called “mermaid’s purses,” are striking, but even within this eclectic category, Human’s egg stood out. He later matched it to a small collection of similar eggs recovered from Rowley Shoals in 1989, a coral reef to the northwest of Australia, and published his findings in 2011.
Inside one of the eggs, he found a small embryo that seemed to match the Apristurus genus of small catsharks.
