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Goblin sharks are incredibly elusive and live in the deepest reaches of the ocean. Photo: E\/V Nautilus<\/p>\n
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The goblin shark is one of those creatures we know exists, but only because we\u2019ve hauled them up from the depths by accident. Some have been placed in tanks to see what behaviors they exhibit, but that\u2019s not the greatest way to learn what an animal does in its natural habitat. But now, researchers have some real footage to study.<\/p>\n
You\u2019ve likely seen images of a goblin shark before \u2014 known to science-minded folks as Mitsukurina owstoni \u2014 and they\u2019re not the prettiest creature in the sea. They\u2019re the ones with the long, pointed nose and the jaws that can shoot out when hunting. From a human\u2019s perspective, they\u2019re absolutely hideous<\/a>. That hideousness, however, has a purpose.<\/p>\n \u201cLife is very different in the deep sea, and the goblin shark\u2019s unique aesthetic is a reflection of that,\u201d writes IFLScience. \u201cWith the fastest jaws in the ocean (or, at least, of its sharks), it can project its gnashers out of its face, firing like a slingshot that extends between 8.6-9.4 percent of its total body length. This means it can snatch prey that would have otherwise been just out of reach.\u201d<\/p>\n The goblin shark was first discovere in 1898 off the coast of Japan. They\u2019re pretty well distributed around the world, living in the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans, way down deep in the inky depths called the benthopelagic zone, which is basically the bottom of any body of water. Since they live in the ocean\u2019s benthopelagic zone, they\u2019re deep. Even deeper than anyone knew.<\/p>\n That, of course, makes them hard to study because we\u2019re not super well acclimated to life at the bottom of the sea. But with the help of a remotely operated vehicle called Hercules, researchers were able to film one in 2019 at a little over 4,000 feet near Jarvis Island in the Central Pacific Ocean.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was a solitary male around 3.43 meters long and, using growth parameter estimates, which the researchers state are somewhat speculative, likely in the region of 51.5 years old,\u201d IFLScience continued. \u201cThe second sighting occurred on the slope of the Tonga Trench in 2024. This observation extended the known depth range of M. owstoni by 697 meters (2,287 feet), from the previous known maximum of 1,300 meters (4,265 feet). The imagery wasn\u2019t perfect but the scientists couldn\u2019t spot any sign of claspers \u2013 specialized fin-like protrusions that help males to mate \u2013 so they believe this individual was a female.\u201d<\/p>\n For researchers, seeing goblin sharks in their natural habitat is a real boon.<\/p>\n