The goblin shark (Mitsukurina owstoni) is a rare predator that lives in the deep sea, so images of the animal alive in its natural habitat are difficult to obtain.
Until now, the only images of living goblin sharks had been obtained from specimens accidentally caught on fishing lines or that, for some reason, reached the surface, where they died shortly afterwards.
A study published recently in the journal Journal of Fish Biology reveals now the first images of the mysterious animal in its natural habitat. The article documents two distinct observations, both in the central Pacific Ocean: one made in 2019 near an undersea seamount near Jarvis Island, and another in 2024 in the Tonga Trench.
Video of a goblin shark in the Tonga Trench, captured in 2024. Credit: Minderoo-University of Western Australia Deep-Sea Research Center and Inkfish.
Considered “living fossils” for being the sole living member of their family, representing a lineage of sharks dating back nearly 125 million years, the data drawn from the images allow scientists to learn more about how these animals live.
“Seeing the most iconic of all deep-sea sharks alive and apparently healthy in its natural habitat is a unique privilege,” says Aaron Judah, from the University of Hawaii at Manoa and the lead author of the paper.
The researcher confesses that he was surprised to realize how deep these sharks dive, as the observation in the Tonga Trench was made at a depth nearly 700 meters deeper than the maximum previously recorded for the species.
It was also thought that goblin sharks occurred only in areas limited to off the western coast of the United States, Australia and Japan, in the Pacific Ocean, and in some areas in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. Therefore the data collected in this study broaden the known distribution range of the species.
“New discoveries like this show that there is still much to explore in our home of the deep ocean,” emphasizes Judah.
