Photo credit: Smithsonian Institute
A rare goblin shark was caught accidentally in a fishing net off the coast of Australia last week.
Goblin sharks typically dwell at depths around 4,000 feet. They avoid sunlight and prefer the darkness of the deep – earning them the nickname “vampire shark”. Adults can grow up to twelve feet long. This one was four feet long and estimated to be between two to three years old.
Photo credit: DailyMail
The distinctive ‘nasal paddle’ contains hundreds of small sensors the shark uses to catch its prey.
Alan Scrymgeour, from the Sapphire Coast Marine Discovery Centre, examined the goblin shark at the Merimbula Wharf Aquarium in New South Whales. He described the goblin shark as an “evolutionary dead end”, belonging to a genus that stopped evolving during the dinosaur era, 70 million years ago.
The Wharf Aquarium is sending the goblin shark to the Australian Museum in Sydney for its collection.
Check out the full story here from The Sydney Morning Herald: