Happy Shark Week! Did you know that there is a mysterious shark that has been “missing” from the Gulf of Mexico since 2010?

The Fringefin Lanternshark (Etmopterus schultzi) is one of 14 endemic Gulf of Mexico fishes that have not yet been reported or are “missing” following the 2010 oil spill. Prosanta Chakrabarty, Curator of Fishes at the LSU Museum of Natural Science, and artist and biologist Brandon Ballengée have been looking for these missing species as part of their ongoing interdisciplinary art, science and outreach project titled Crude Life: A Citizen Art and Science Investigation of Gulf of Mexico Biodiversity after the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill.