The Creature : Goblin Shark

Photo credit to Michigan State University

After learning about sea layers, it is time to get to know one of the deep sea creatures; Goblin Shark!

Appearance

Goblin Shark, or Mitsukurina owstoni, is one of the marine animals that is rarely seen on the shallow water because of their habitat is in the deep water. Based on the information from Shark Research Institute, Goblin shark very rarely surface, and usually remain at depths of 885.8 to 3149.6 ft [270 to 960 m], to at least 4265.1 ft [1300 m] below the surface.

Goblin Shark has a soft, flabby body and an unmistakable flat, elongated snout, they even have protrusible jaws, and a long tail fin with no ventral lobe with a pinkish-white like skin color making them flashy in our eyes but because they life in the deep sea, they probably still unnoticeable for the predator because light and sunray can not reach where they lives. Goblin Sharks also has a very large long-cusped, slender teeth.

Their sizes, like any other creatures, depends on the ages and the gender. Because mature males can grow up to 8.7 ft [264 cm] while mature females can grow up to 11 ft [335 cm]. Their maximum size is estimated to be more than 16.4 ft [500 cm].

Their Diet

Living in the deep sea can be really hard especially to hunt any food; because they do not have a great diversity and environment down there. Goblin Shark can not really be picky with their diet, they feeds primarily on deep-sea fish, any kind of fish that they could find in there, but they also crustaceans and cephalopods.

Their Behavior

Although it looks fierce due to its snout and long body, this shark’s body shape suggests that it is not a strong swimmer. Its knife-shaped snout may be used to detect prey, and its highly specialized jaws can dart forward quickly to capture prey. Its slender front teeth suggest that it feeds on small, soft-bodied fish and squid, but its back teeth have adapted to crush food. To simplify; These sharks may swim slowly waiting for animals to come within striking distance before they quickly extend their unusual jaws to snap up prey.

Habitat and Population

Like I wrote earlier in the introduction paragraph about their appearances, this kind of shark lives in the dark deep sea around the world and rarely get seen around the shallow water although some small individuals have been spotted near the ocean surface. The distribution of this shark’s habitat is highly uneven across the Atlantic Ocean, the western Indian Ocean, and the Pacific Ocean.

Well, hows the information so far? Did you get educated in one of the ‘ugly’ looking deep sea creature, yet? Another fun fact that I will give you is that this kind of shark appear to be not as agressive as other types of sharks! But surely it’s still scary to suddenly find a pale pinkish-white with long snout fish swim in the dark, right? I hope you enjoy this article as much as I do and I will see you around :)