Video of Live Goblin Sharks Recorded in Central Pacific at Record Depth

Australian scientists aboard the R/V Dagon captured video of a live goblin shark in the Tonga Trench in 2024; University of Hawaii researchers separately recorded another individual near Jarvis Island. The two sightings, thousands of kilometres apart, were published together in the Journal of Fish Biology.

The Tonga Trench shark was filmed at nearly 2,000 metres, the deepest-known recording of the species.

Over 50 days of continuous filming produced the 20-second clip, according to Prof Alan Jamieson, director of the Minderoo-UWA Deep-Sea Research Centre and a co-author of the paper. “Everyone knows the goblin shark from its strange mouth,” Jamieson said.

” Previously, the species was thought to inhabit only the western coast of the US, Australia, Japan, and narrow regions of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans.

Both new records place the sharks in the central Pacific. ” He noted their long flabby bodies, which can reach seven metres, small fins, and “bizarre protrudable jaws” that shoot forward to capture prey detected by the elongated snout. The common name “goblin” comes from a Japanese term for a legendary creature with a long nose and red shiny cheeks, Brown said.

He added that the sharks are an ancient lineage that has remained relatively unchanged for about 125 million years. Jamieson compared the species to the colossal squid, noting that live observations had been limited to rare accidental captures on fishing lines. The new footage, he said, removes some of the “mythological quality” long attached to the animal.