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Goblin Shark
Mitsukurina owstoni Jordan, 1898
The Goblin Shark has a shovel-like snout, flabby body, and a tail with a weakly developed lower lobe.
This species grows to 3.8 m in length.
It is not considered dangerous to humans.
The Goblin Shark is found in marine waters to depths of about 1200 m. It lives near the sea bottom in scattered localities through the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Oceans.
In Australia it is known from off New South Wales, Tasmania and possibly from off South Australia. View a map of the collecting localities of specimens in the Australian Museum Fish Collection.
The species was named in honour of Alan Owston (1853-1915), an "English collector of Asian Wildlife, as well as a businessman and yachtsman" (Beolens & Watkins, 2003).
Images on this page show a Goblin Shark caught at a depth of 960 m in 1983 by the Fisheries Research Vessel Kapala off Sydney, New South Wales. This is one of two large male Goblin Sharks (3.6 m and 3.8 m) trawled by FRV Kapala from New South Wales waters. Both specimens are registered in the Australian Museum fish collection (AMS I.24053-001 and I.27045-001). View image of a preserved specimen.
The top image shows the whole Goblin Shark at the Fisheries wharf, Gore Bay, Sydney. Note the slender body, long snout, rounded dorsal, pectoral and anal fins and the weakly developed lower lobe of the caudal fin.
The red colour of the fish probably resulted from the fish's skin being abraded in the trawl net (more details).
The second image shows the Goblin Shark's head. It has a small eye, long flattened snout and protruded jaws.
The underside of the snout is heavily pored. These pores are the external openings of the ampullae of Lorenzini, the electricity detecting organs. The Goblin Shark most likely hunts its prey by detecting electric fields.
A study by Yano et al (see further reading) examined the stomach contents of 121 Goblin Sharks from Tokyo Submarine Canyon. Prey items included bony fishes, squids and crustaceans.
The Goblin Shark has five gill slits, like most sharks. Some sharks however have six or seven gill slits. Examples include the Frilled Shark and the Broadnosed Sevengill Shark.
One of the distinctive features of the Goblin Shark is its protrusible mouth. The mouth can retract to a position under the eye, or extend forward under the snout as shown in the second and third images.
In the third image the spatulate (spade-like) snout and multiple rows of fang-like teeth are clearly visible.
The two lower images show the rounded feeding scars of a Cookie-cutter Shark. The common name of this shark comes from its ability to bite circular plugs of tissue from larger fishes. The second bottom image shows a scar on the flank of the Goblin Shark below the dorsal fin. The bottom image shows a feeding scar that has pierced the Goblin Shark's anal fin. This wound is also visible in the image at the top of the page.
The rod-like structures extending from the base of the anal fin (top of the bottom image) are the male shark's claspers. These organs are used to transfer sperm from the male to the female shark during mating. View images of the claspers of a Bull Shark.
In August 2000 a third specimen of Goblin Shark was collected by J. Nemec on the FV Shelley H, east of Bermagui, New South Wales. This fish was of particular interest because it was much smaller than the two previously caught fish. It was a 1.1m total length male. It was grey all over, similar to the Japanese specimens. View image of the whole fish, head, teeth, and tail.
Further Reading
- Beolens, B. & M. Watkins. 2003. Whose bird? Men and women commemorated in the common names of birds. Christopher Helm. Pp. 384.
- Last, P.R. & J.D. Stevens. 1994. Sharks and Rays of Australia. CSIRO. Pp. 513, Pl. 1-84.
- Yano, K., Miya, M., Aizawa, M. & T. Noichi. 2003. Abstracts. 2003 Joint Meeting of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists. American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists. Pp. 533.
