At-A-Glance
Scientific Name – Mitsukurina owstoni
Size – 8-11ft/3.3m, but can reach up to 16ft/4.8m.
Habitat – Deep pelagic waters within the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans; usually around depths of 885ft to 4,265ft (1300m).
Diet – Crustaceans and cephalopods as well as some species of fish.
Reproduction – Thought to be ovoviviparous (pups are nourished in utero via yolk sac and birthed live) however, a pregnant female has never been captured/recorded.
IUCN Listing – Least Concern, due to their habitat, they rarely encounter fisherman/humans. However, they have been sporadically taken as commercial bycatch with deep-sea longlining, trawling and deep-sea gill nets.
Bet You Didn’t Know…
- Goblin sharks are mesopelagic species and are one of the rarest sharks in the world. We know very little about them.
- They have protrusible mouths, meaning their jaws can extend much further than other shark species thanks to special ligaments. They have very slender, fang like teeth.
- They are pinkish to purplish gray in color with bright blue around the edge of their fins.
Ready To Dive In?
Nope not so fast. Due to their habitat being in deep pelagic waters, there are no known locations where you can dive with Goblin Sharks
Science In The Spotlight
Goblin sharks are incredibly interesting but are incredibly hard to study due to their deep-sea lifestyle. For about 100 years, any information about these sharks was based on deceased specimens studied in labs. In 2008, however, divers were finally able to video these sharks capturing prey so we could finally understand how they use that strange jaw of theirs. Using these videos from 2008 and ones taken in 2011, scientists were able to study the way they capture prey and discovered a completely novel behavior unique to this species. *link to read more*