After being rescued from a deep-sea pump last Thursday, a mystery shark has researchers thrilled about the new discovery. This is the second unidentified species found at the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority, on the Big Island in the past 2 months. Researchers are guessing it’s a rare shark.

This strange and unusual looking shark was discovered in deep sea waters off Keahole point, on the Kona Coast.

We showed people a picture of this creature and asked them what they thought it was.
"It looks like some kind of alligator or something amazing."
"Oh my goodness it looks like a lizard a dinosaur."

“I got a report from our executive director that he spotted something in our deep sea water sump and it looked like a shark, says Jan War, Operations Manager at Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority.

Several unidentified marine creatures have been found before including an "Octo-squid" found 2 months ago.

“This particular specimen was found in our 55 inch deep sea water system which has an intake of 1,000 meters which is roughly 3,000 feet deep, says War.

The deep sea water is filtered through a sump pump, designed to rescue any creatures sucked in from the deep.

Researchers in Honolulu look at pictures of the shark to identify it.

“I took my best shot and then I forwarded the images to some experts,’ says Christopher Kelley, Researcher at the Hawaii Undersea Research Laboratory.

But some experts are not exactly sure what it is.

“They said that the fins were a little different and that this could be a brand new species,” continues Kelley.

It’s amazing that this shark was brought up alive for researchers to observe for the past five days.

“The shark came up from 3,000 feet, most animals that come up from even a thousand feet are dead when they hit the surface,” says Kelley.

Only 2 other sharks like it have been found in Indonesia and off Nihoa.

“This is called the sponge-head cat shark and it just has a smaller snout I think,” says Kelley.

Researchers still hope to confirm the identity of the shark, unfortunately it died this afternoon. Ultimately it may end up at the Bishop Museum for display.