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Goblin Shark (Mitsukurina owstoni)

The Goblin Shark or Mitsukurina owstoni is a deep sea shark that is rarely seen by human eyes. This shark is said to live in waters over 200 meters below the ocean's surface! The deepest the shark was ever caught was and amazing 1300 meters! This species is the sole living member in the family Mitsukurinidae and was first discovered in Japan. Since then there have been isolated reports all around the world in the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean. The Goblin Shark is pinkish in color and is known for its strangely shaped head. It has a very long, snout or rostrum that is much longer than most other sharks out there. Not a lot is known about the reproductive habits or the eating habits of these sharks for that matter, but it is thought that they dine on deep sea squid and other deep sea fish. Since there is absolutely no light at the depths this creatures lives, it relies on electro-sensitive organs in its snout to sense prey.  Goblin Sharks have a unique mouth that actually has the ability to project from its mouth!  

The largest Goblin sharks recorded was 12.6 feet (384cm) and weighed 463 pounds (210kg). It is thought that up to 25% of this fish's weigh is its liver, no one is quite certain why the liver makes up so much of its body weigh. To see rare footage of this amazing deep sea shark in action watch the video below...


Anonymous said...

I find it odd that there's no mention that this fish can project its jaws apart from the rest of the head.

1Green Thumb said...

We have added that into the post along with an animated gif to show it... Thanks for the heads up!

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