A ghost shark with enormous eyes may be an entirely new species, and scientists found it swimming in the deep ocean off the coast of Costa Rica.
Researchers from the United States and Costa Rica collected a ghost shark egg case and a recently hatched juvenile during a 2022 expedition. The animal was spotted near the Pacific coast of Costa Rica, around the Cocos Island and the underwater mountain range known as the Seamounts Marine Management Area. The team included scientists from the Pacific Shark Research Center in California and local researchers from Costa Rica.
A deep sea creature that looks like nothing else
Ghost sharks are not actually sharks. They belong to a group of fish called chimaeras, which are distant relatives of sharks and rays. They live in deep, dark waters and have skeletons made of cartilage, not bone. This particular specimen stood out because of its unusually large eyes, a trait that suggests it is adapted to life in the dim depths of the ocean. The egg case itself was also unusual. It had a distinct shape and texture that did not match any known ghost shark species.
Why local scientists paid close attention
Costa Rica is known for its rich marine biodiversity, and the waters around Cocos Island are a protected area. Local researchers care about this discovery because it adds to the growing list of species found in their national waters. The find also highlights how little is known about the deep sea habitats that lie just off the country's coast. For Costa Rican marine biologists, every new species helps them understand the health of the ocean ecosystems they are trying to protect.
The team plans to study the DNA of the juvenile and the egg case to confirm whether it is a new species. If confirmed, it would be one of the few ghost shark species ever documented in the eastern Pacific Ocean. The discovery reminds readers that even in the 21st century, the deep ocean still holds creatures that science has never seen before.
