The angular rough shark typically lives deep in the ocean waters throughout much of the eastern Atlantic Ocean. The fact that they stay 60-600 meters (197 to 1968 feet) below the surface means that humans rarely encounter them.

To make a sighting even more unusual, this species is also critically endangered. So, when one was unintentionally caught by commercial trawlers near Sazan Island off the coast of Albania, it was something that the scientists wanted to study.

What they found was quite surprising. On top of being an extremely rare animal, this one had a condition called leucism, which makes its skin very pale. This condition is similar to albinism. The condition causes a partial loss of skin pigments, resulting in a ghostly appearance.

Normally, this shark species is dark gray, brown, or black, making it very hard to see in the ocean depths where little light can reach. The shark, despite not having its natural camouflage, seemed to be otherwise healthy.

A study of this shark was published in the Journal of Fish Biology.

The lead author of the study, Andrej Gajic, the director of the Sharklab ADRIA in Albania commented on his discovery:

“Some research [suggests] that a lack of pigmentation may make individuals more visible to both predators and prey, potentially reducing their chances of survival. However, our discovery, along with several other recent observations of healthy adult sharks with pigment disorders, preliminary implies that these anomalies do not significantly affect their feeding abilities or ability to evade predators, nor do they impede sexual maturity and reproduction.”

This type of pigment disorder is rare in any animal, but it seems to be exceptionally uncommon in sharks and other related sea animals. Gajic talked about just how unusual this is, saying:

“Pigment disorders such as albinism and leucism are exceptionally rare among sharks and their relatives, with only 15 documented cases among deep-sea species.”

Sadly, this shark was dead by the time it was able to be studied so it could not be returned to the wild.

That is one weird-looking shark.

Thought that was fascinating? Here’s another story you might like: Why You’ll Never See A Great White Shark In An Aquarium