The 10 Weirdest-Named Shark Species

The bowmouth guitarfish is actually a ray, though due to its shark-like body is sometimes called a shark ray. It's just about the coolest-looking shark there is (science). It's found all over the tropical sections of the Pacific and Indian Oceans, and survives well in captivity--but is relatively rare, due to accidental catch, fishing (its fins are eaten in some Asian countries), and habitat destruction. Wikimedia Commons

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Happy Shark Week! In honor of the One True American Holiday (all other holidays are less true, due to lower shark content), I spent about an hour reading about sharks on Wikipedia. Important findings from a solid morning’s research: sharks often have weird names. For example: the birdbeak dogfish. That’s a real animal! Ditto the flaccid catshark and, perhaps weirdest of all, the porbeagle, which doesn’t sound like a fish at all. Click through for more.

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This article originally appeared on PopularScience.com August 14, 2012.

 
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