The species was first discovered in 2010, according to a paper published in the Journal of the Ocean Science Foundation. It has since been found in parts of the eastern Pacific Ocean spanning from from Nicaragua to Panama, with a majority found off Costa Rica. A total of eight specimens have been found. The largest is about a foot and a half long.
"We don't know a lot about lanternsharks," the paper's first author, Victoria Vásquez, told Hakai Magazine. Vásquez is a graduate student at California's Pacific Shark Research Center. "They don't get much recognition compared to a great white. So when it came to this shark I wanted to give it an interesting story."
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