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'Ugliest Shark on the Planet': See the Elusive Goblin Shark, Filmed for the First Time in Its Deep-Sea Habitat
Key takeaways
- Julian Finn / Museums Victoria under CC BY 4.0 For the first time, scientists have spotted rare and elusive goblin sharks swimming in their deep-sea habitat.
- The sightings—described in a study published on May 19 in the Journal of Fish Biology—offer new insights into the behavior and ecology of the mysterious creatures.
- In July 2019, scientists were using a remotely operated underwater vehicle to explore the central Pacific Ocean near Jarvis Island when an 11-foot-long creature with a long snout swam by at a depth of roughly 4,000 feet.
Julian Finn / Museums Victoria under CC BY 4.0 For the first time, scientists have spotted rare and elusive goblin sharks swimming in their deep-sea habitat.
The sightings—described in a study published on May 19 in the Journal of Fish Biology—offer new insights into the behavior and ecology of the mysterious creatures. Until now, most live observations have come from sharks that were accidentally hauled in on fishing lines.
“They’ve captured the imagination of so many people, but we’ve never really seen them alive,” study co-author Alan Jamieson, a marine biologist and founding director of the Minderoo-University of Western Australia Deep-Sea Research Centre, tells the Guardian’s Petra Stock. “We actually know virtually nothing about them.”
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