The discovery of a rare, frilled shark off waters in south eastern Australia has drawn interest from tourist operators and scientists alike.

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Listen Duration: 3 minutes 59 seconds 3 m 59 s Griffith's Sea Shell Museum owner Coralie Griffiths on what the rare, frilled shark discovery means for Lakes Entrance. ( James Jooste ) Download 1.8 MB

The species, whose ancestry dates back 80 million years, was caught by a fishing trawler in waters near Lakes Entrance in Victoria's Gippsland region in January.

The fish's DNA has been sent to a Queensland scientist to analyse, and its body is currently at the Sydney Aquarium.

Local museum operators in Lakes Entrance are preparing for its return, building a special tank to house it in.

Griffith's Sea Shell Museum owner Coralie Griffiths, who bought the fish, said while it was "horrendous" looking it had sparked interest from right around the country.

"They're very, very rare fish but they are interesting to different scientists too," she said.

"There are two species that swim right around the world but in very deep water so they are hard to study.

"Because they circumnavigate the globe in the very, very deep trenches it's important to plot their cycles and try and find out as much as we can about them."

Ms Griffiths said the fish had sparked a lot of interest among locals and visitors to Lakes Entrance.

She said it was only the fourth frilled shark to have been sighted off south-eastern Australian waters in 50 years.

"A lot of folk have come in and asked about it and asked about its lifestyle. Prehistoric fishes like these are so rare and they are fascinating," she said.

"At present we have loaned him to the Sydney Aquarium, he will go on display there for a little while.

"While he's there we will be building a special tank for him and he'll come back here to Lakes Entrance."