If you are a fan of the mystical creatures then the goblin shark will most definitely catch your eye. Not the most known shark in our waters like the reef or tiger sharks but on that deserves the attention nonetheless.
This species of fish is found at the bottom of the ocean of the coast of Japan. In fact, the goblin shark got its name from an interpretation of the Japanese word tenguzame. Tengu is a reference to a Japanese folk creature that is part bird and part human while zame translates to shark. The shark grows to 3.6 meters and weighs up to 208 kilograms. Since this shark is found in very deep waters it is rarely encountered and scientists still know little about it. But this is what we do know.
The goblin shark’s most conspicuous physical features are the long snout (called a rostrum) and the teeth. The rostrum is covered with special organs that help these sharks locate prey in the low light of their preferred habitat by sensing the electric field created by other fishes. The teeth are long and scraggly, and the goblin shark is one of very few species of shark whose teeth are visible when the mouth is fully closed. In other words, goblin sharks cannot fit all of their teeth in their mouths.
The most unusual feature is the extendable jaws of the shark. The jaw can be extended to the length of its snout, that is 9% of its body length, at an extraordinary speed of nearly 7 miles per hour. The question then arises how can they do that and why? A goblins sharks top and bottom teeth are attached to ligaments or bands of tissue tucked into its mouth. When the prey is just out of reach, the shark extends the elastic tissue of the mouth to nab the prey. Scientists think that the shark has this feature because in the ocean deep food rarely comes along so they need to make every bite worth it.
Their extendable jaws have caused scientists to once wrongly classify them as separate species because their jaws stuck out at different lengths.
As mentioned earlier scientists don’t know much about the behavior of these rarely seen animals. But they believe that goblin sharks are solitary, just like many other shark species. They also think the fish are most active in the morning and evening. These animals are likely sluggish creatures, which can make it hard to chase food. Luckily, their special extendable jaws give them some extra bite.
As if that is not enough the shark has unusual coloration, ranging from pinkish to purplish grey, with bright blue around the edges of its fins. This makes it a rainbow in the deep due to the diverse colour spectrum.
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