A fisherman has shared a picture of his latest deep-sea find – a prehistoric goblin shark.
Roman Fedortsov, a deep-sea fisherman working on a trawler in Murmansk in the northwest part of Russia, has devoted his life to searching for creatures unknown.
He spends months of his life at sea, much to the delight of his 650,000 followers on Instagram (@rfedortsov_official_account), where he often shares snaps of frightening looking creatures from the depths he’s found.
His latest catch is as creepy as ever – a goblin shark, a rare species of deep-sea shark.
Dubbed a “living fossil”, goblins sharks are the only surviving member of the Mitsukurinidae family, a lineage of shark dating back 125 million years old.
The prehistoric beast has a characteristic long snout and sharp, fang-like teeth, which can be seen in a picture snapped by Roman.
The goblin shark usually dwells at the bottom of the ocean, and can grow up to 12 feet long and weigh up to 32 stone (460lbs).
They are mostly spotted off the coast of Japan, and their name is believed to be due to their likeness to mythical goblins in Japanese folklore.
Roman shared a picture of the rare catch with his followers, which racked up 5,000 likes and left users likening it to a creature from the Alien movie franchise.
One user joked: “Hieronymous Bosch's hell realm just called - said they're missing their most prized godforsaken fish-goblin.”
“Missing the nuclear fish,” another person said.
Someone else commented: “Alien sequel movie set or fishing boat?”
“Oohhh, a goblin shark!” said another viewer.
“No way!! Super rare! Goblin shark! You see the most amazing stuff,” said another fan.
Others left shocked emojis and commented “wow”.
Last year, Roman shared several pictures of his bizarre catches, including a crab which appeared to have a full set of human-esque teeth.
He wrote: “Crabs…All the same, there is something attractive and repulsive in them. Mother Nature has tried…”
The snap of the bizarre sea creature racked up nearly 10,000 likes, with users horrified by its appearance.
One person commented: “That’s human teeth. Tell me I’m wrong.”
In another post, he stunned social media with another rare deep ocean find - a terrifying fish with burst eyeballs, a mouth full of sharp teeth and a scaly tongue.
In his recent capture, the scary-looking fish can be seen with yellow eyes with no pupils.
The silver-scaled fish also has its mouth open, revealing its teeth and its scaly-looking tongue.
