One of the world’s ugliest sharks has been filmed in their natural habitat for the first time, according to a new study published in the Journal of Fish Biology.
The goblin shark (Mitsukurina owstoni) was observed in 2019 by a team from the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa sailing near Jarvis Island in the South Pacific.
Named after its retractable jaw – a unique feature that shoots forward at speeds of 3.1 metres per second to devour unsuspecting fish – the deep-sea-dwelling goblin sharks were predominantly known to scientists from dead specimens hauled from depths of up to 1,200 metres (3,940 feet) by fishermen.
“Seeing the most iconic of all the deep-sea sharks alive and looking healthy in its natural habitat is a unique honour,” said Dr Aaron Judah, the paper’s lead author and a doctoral candidate at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa’s Department of Oceanography.
“I was also very surprised about how deep this species was found. The observation from the slope of the Tonga Trench is nearly 700 metres deeper than this species was known to live.”
