The first live observations of the rare and elusive goblin shark in its natural deep ocean habitat have been recorded, extending their known depth and geographic range significantly.
Research by the Minderoo-UWA Deep-Sea Research Centre and the University of Hawaii at Manoa published in Journal of Fish Biology, documents two live observations of the goblin shark, Mitsukurina owstoni, in the Pacific Ocean at a seamount near Jarvis Island, on the slope of the Tonga Trench.
Goblin sharks are sometimes referred to as “living fossils”, as they are the only living representative of their family, a lineage of sharks that is nearly 125 million years old.
In the past, they were only seen alive after being hooked on a fishing line and brought to the surface, where they soon died.
Professor Alan Jamieson, Director of Minderoo-UWA Deep-Sea Research Centre and co-author of the study, documented the 2024 sighting during an expedition to the Tonga Trench, which took place aboard the R/V Dagon as part of the Inkfish Open Ocean Expedition when a baited camera on a bottom lander captured footage of a goblin shark at 1,997 metres.
“The goblin shark is a deep-sea charismatic animal, and I never thought we’d see one alive,” Professor Jamieson said.
“It’s not only seeing it alive that was fascinating, but also the fact the Tonga Trench goblin shark was 700 metres deeper than previous known, making the deepest-known white shark.
“On that expedition we filmed over 50 days of continuous footage between depths of 800 and 10,800 metres and this observation was a little over 20 seconds long which is testament to how elusive this species is, and how special it is to have two observations in the same study.”
Lead author Aaron Judah, from the Deep-Sea Fish Ecology Lab and Deep-Sea Animal Research Center at the University of Hawaii, said their footage from the unnamed seamount north-west of Jarvis Island was captured in 2019 on a camera system on the remotely operated vehicle Hercules at 1,237 metres.
Previously, the goblin shark was only known to inhabit narrow areas off the coast of the western US, Australia and Japan in the Pacific Ocean, and narrow regions in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans.
The new findings significantly extend the geographic range, with both sightings in the Central Pacific.
“New discoveries like this demonstrate that there is still so much to explore in our deep ocean home,” Mr Judah said.
“Given the newly expanded geographic range of the goblin shark, this species can be included in regional management and a nation’s biodiversity list.”
Image top: Goblin shark captured on camera in the Pacific Ocean. Credit: Minderoo-UWA Deep-Sea Research Centre and Inkfish