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Shark species can get kind of weird. See 3 of the strangest wobbegongs, goblins and vipers.
When someone says “shark,” the first images that come to mind for many people are rather typical – great whites, bull sharks and tiger sharks. But there are some species lurking beneath the sea that look a little, well, different from their cousins.
Most people think of the aforementioned species because of shark attacks. Although they rarely happen – there were just 69 unprovoked bites worldwide in 2023 according to the International Shark Attack File – attacks by great whites, bull sharks and tiger sharks are soemtime fatal because of their sheer size. But there are millions of these predators in the ocean, and it’s the ones that aren’t seen as often that can be among the most fascinating – both in character and in looks.
Goblin sharks (Mitsukurina owstoni)
Dianne Bray / Museum Victoria
You can’t miss this shark’s most distinctive feature – its mouth. According to the Australian Museum, their mouths can retract under their eyes and also extend forward to the length of their very long and flat snouts. Goblin sharks are found throughout the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Oceans and like to stay near the sea floor at depths from about 800 to over 3,000 feet.
Viper dogfish sharks (Trigonognathus kabeyai)
Stephen M Kajiura
These extremely rare tiny sharks are known for their creepy, snake-like teeth, giant eyes, glowing bellies and gaping jaws that allow them to swallow their prey in one bite. Viver dogfish sharks have rarely been found, but when they have, it’s been near Japan, Taiwan and Hawaii. In 2018, five of the sharks were found along Taiwan’s coast, according to Newsweek, although all but one were dead with the final shark dying a day later. They’re known to live at depths of up to about 3,300 feet.
Tasselled wobbegong sharks (Eucrossorhinus dasypogon)
/ Getty Images
Otherwise known as “carpet sharks,” this species is clearly defined by the unusual fringe along the front of its head and its camouflage pattern. The Tasselled variety is just one of 12 wobbegong shark species, according to Abyss Scuba Diving, and the animals are known for being ambush predators that wait for their prey to get close enough for them to attack. This particular wobbegong species lives at depths of up to 131 feet on the continental shelf, as well as reefs, in the western Pacific, and are often seen in the northern Great Barrier Reef.
How many shark species are there?
According to the Shark Research Institute, there are more than 400 species of sharks. These animals, like all species, belong to a certain scientific classification. Sharks belong to the classification Chondrichthyes, which are fishes that don’t have bones, but instead have skeletons made of cartilage – the same tissue found in human noses, ears and joints.
And while sharks are often described in monolithic terms, no two species are the same. There are varying attributes from everything, including where they live, what they eat, how they interact with people and even how they reproduce – some are actually cannibals in the womb and eat their siblings.
But many of these species are at risk of demise – largely because of habitat intrusion and climate change. A 2022 study found that if greenhouse gas emissions – a primary driver for rising global temperatures that fuel extreme weather and agriculture among other things – are not limited by the end of the century, nearly every marine species will be at risk of extinction. Sharks and other large predators are among the most at risk, the report found.
TRENTON, N.J. — Democratic Newark City Council President LaMonica McIver has defeated Republican small businessman Carmen Bucco in a contest in New Jersey’s 10th Congressional District that opened up because of the death of Rep. Donald Payne Jr. in April.
McIver will serve out the remainder of Payne’s term, which ends in January. She and Bucco will face a rematch on the November ballot for the full term.
McIver said in a statement Wednesday that she stands on the “shoulders of giants,” naming Payne as chief among them.
She cast ahead to the November election, saying the right to make reproductive health choices was on the ballot as well as whether the economy should benefit the wealthy or “hard working Americans.”
“I will fight because the purpose of politics and the purpose of our vote is to give the people of our communities and our nation a bold voice,” she said.
Bucco congratulated McIver on the victory in a statement but said he’s looking forward to the rematch in November.
“I am not going anywhere,” he said in an email. “We still have a second chance to make district 10 great again!”
Who are LaMonica McIver and Carmen Bucco?
McIver emerged as the Democratic candidate in a crowded field in the July special election. A member of the city council of New Jersey’s biggest city since 2018, she also worked for Montclair Public Schools as a personnel director and plans to focus on affordability, infrastructure, abortion rights and “protecting our democracy,” she told The Associated Press earlier this summer.
Bucco describes himself on his campaign website as a small-business owner influenced by his upbringing in the foster system. He lists support for law enforcement and ending corruption as top issues.
The 10th District lies in a heavily Democratic and majority-Black region of northern New Jersey. Republicans are outnumbered by more than 6 to 1.
It’s been a volatile year for Democrats in New Jersey, where the party dominates state government and the congressional delegation.
Among the developments were the conviction on federal bribery charges of U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez, who has denied the charges, and the demise of the so-called county party line — a system in which local political leaders give their preferred candidates favorable position on the primary ballot.
Democratic Rep. Andy Kim, who’s running for Menendez’s seat, and other Democrats brought a federal lawsuit challenging the practice as part of his campaign to oust Menendez, who has resigned since his conviction.
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Sean “Diddy” Combs at same Brooklyn detention center that held R. Kelly, Sam Bankman-Fried, other high-profile inmates
A second judge refused to grant bail to Sean “Diddy” Combs on Wednesday and he could remain in federal custody at a Brooklyn detention center until his trial for sex trafficking charges. Combs joins other high-profile inmates, such as singer R. Kelly, fallen cryptocurrency mogul Sam Bankman-Fried, rapper Ja Rule —even Al Sharpton served a brief stint— who were held at the same federal detention center.
Notorious for its horrible conditions —inmates won a $10 million class action settlement after enduring frigid conditions during an 8-day blackout in 2019— the waterfront industrial complex, MDC Brooklyn, houses 1,200 inmates.
JOHANNES EISELE/AFP via Getty Images
Violence and corruption have long plagued the facility; U.S. District Judge Gary R. Brown of the Eastern District of New York wrote the detention center had “dangerous, barbaric conditions” in a recent sentencing opinion. Two inmates were stabbed to death in recent months and several correction officers have been convicted for smuggling contraband and accepting bribes.
Combs joins a list of high-profile personalities that have landed at the MDC Brooklyn, partly because the city’s other federal detention center, MDC New York, closed in 2021, also due to horrible conditions. The disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein died by suicide in his cell there in 2019. “Numerous and serious” instances of misconduct among corrections staff gave Epstein the opportunity to kill himself, a subsequent federal watchdog investigation found.
Kelly sued the federal detention center in 2022 for wrongly putting him on suicide watch after his sentencing. Kelly sought $100 million because he said the detention center knew he wasn’t suicidal after he was convicted in 2021 for racketeering and violating the Mann Act, which bars transporting people across state lines for prostitution.
Yuki Iwamura/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Former crypto billionaire Bankman-Fried survived on bread, water and sometimes peanut butter when he was in the MDC Brooklyn, his attorney said, because the detention center continued to serve him a “flesh diet” despite requests for vegan dishes.
Ja Rule stayed at the MDC Brooklyn for a brief time before being released after serving most of his two-year sentence for illegal gun possession. Most of his prison time was spent in a state prison in New York.
Sharpton served a 90-day sentence in 2001 and went on a hunger strike for protesting the U.S. Navy bombing of the island of Vieques, in Puerto Rico.
Combs was taken into custody on Monday and according to an indictment unsealed Tuesday he was charged with sex trafficking, racketeering conspiracy and transportation to engage in prostitution.
His attorney Marc Agnifilo told CBS News, “It’s impossible to prepare for a trial from where he is,” after a first federal judge denied Combs bail on Tuesday.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Robyn Tarnofsky agreed with prosecutors who argued the hip-hop mogul, who is accused of using his business empire as a criminal enterprise to conceal his alleged abuse of women, is a flight risk and poses an ongoing threat to the safety of the community.
Agnifilo said the part of the detention center where Combs is being held is “a very difficult place to be.”
contributed to this report.
