Goblin sharks filmed at new depths near Jarvis Island and Tonga Trench

Two separate expeditions captured video of goblin sharks near Jarvis Island in 2019 and in the Tonga Trench in 2024, extending the species’ known depth and geographic range. The 2019 observation came during an Ocean Exploration Trust expedition aboard the M/V Nautilus near Jarvis Island and the Palmyra Atoll.

The 2024 sighting occurred on the slope of the Tonga Trench during an expedition by the research vessel RV Dagon, which used a baited camera.

The study documenting both records was published this week in the Journal of Fish Biology. Aaron Judah, a doctoral candidate in the Department of Oceanography at the University of Hawaii at Mānoa and lead author, reviewed 2019 footage from the Nautilus expedition and confirmed the earlier sighting.

The Tonga Trench observation took place at a depth nearly 700 meters greater than the species’ previously known maximum.

That record also extended the known depth range of lamniform sharks by 108 meters. The 2019 sighting expanded the documented geographic range of the goblin shark into the central Pacific Ocean. Before these records, the species had been observed only when caught by fishing gear and brought to the surface.

8 feet. They belong to the family Mitsukurinidae, the sole living species in a lineage that dates back 125 million years. Alan Jamieson, founding director of the Minderoo-UWA Deep-Sea Research Center, participated in the Tonga Trench expedition.

“The Goblin Shark is one of these deep-sea charismatic animals that I never thought we’d see alive, and then to do so was amazing, but to then learn that colleagues in Hawai'i also saw one was just incredible,” he said. Aaron Judah said of the records, “Seeing the most iconic of all the deep-sea sharks alive and looking healthy in its natural habitat is a unique honour.