Rare Shark on Display For Short Time

(MYFOX NATIONAL) - Visitors of the Monterey Bay Aquarium in California got a rare look at a deep-water prickly shark for three hours on Wednesday before it was released back into the ocean.

The shark was captured by the Moss Landing Lab on Tuesday night and then put on display the next day.

"It's called a prickly shark because the skin has these little denticles that are prickly and it's almost like little rose bushes all along the surface and skin of the shark," veterinarian Mike Murray said.

But shortly after going on display, marine biologists noticed that the shark wasn't doing as well as they had hoped. At times it was floating vertically, then it would float belly up near the surface.

"I thought perhaps [it was] in distress. My first thought was, should it be here?" said aquarium visitor Victoria Mulder.

After three hours, scientists finally made the call pull the shark out of the tank and put it into another tank with oxygenated water. It was then loaded onto a boat and taken to the bay and released.

"We think [the shark experienced] buoyancy problems," Murray said. "It's designed to be at depth, we brought it to shallow surfaces, and it just didn't float real well and wasn't able to make the adjustment in such a short time period."

Aquarium visitors still felt like they got a treat. "I feel lucky to see the scientists deal with it," said El Dorado County resident Peter Barlett. "I wish I got a closer look. That would have been pretty neat."