📸 PhotoPhoto: Hungarian Snow · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons Source
Goblin shark
Mitsukurina owstoni (Goblin shark · ミツクリザメ)
💡 Everyday Comparisons for Size, Mass & Speed
- 💡 The average length of 160 cm reported by ADW is similar to the height of an upper-grade elementary school child (Comparison).
- 💡 Off Japan it is occasionally caught commercially and is sometimes salted and dried for food (Animal Diversity Web, FishBase).
Reference standards: coach bus ~12 m, mid-size car ~4.9 m, compact car ~1 t, basketball hoop 3.05 m, credit card 8.56 cm.
📖 1. Overview
The goblin shark is a deep-sea shark famous for the long, flattened snout jutting from its forehead and its far-protruding jaws.
🦴 2. Anatomy & Morphology
Its flattened snout appears to be used to sense faint electric signals given off by other fish. Instead of the sharp scales typical of sharks, its skin is soft and rubbery, showing blood vessels beneath so that it looks pinkish-gray in life. Its jaws shoot far forward to snatch prey.
🔍 3. Ecology & Behavior
It searches for prey in midwater or near the bottom using electroreception, smell, and weak eyesight. Squid, fish, ostracods, and crabs have been found in its stomach.
🇰🇷 4. Connection to Korea
No direct record connecting this species to Korea has been found.
📚 Sources & References
- • IUCN Red List LC (2018) — https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/44565/2994832
- • IUCN Red List category LC — latest assessment at iucnredlist.org
- • catalogueoflife.org — 43RPG
- • iucnredlist.org — 2994832
- • wikidata.org — Q499461
- • commons.wikimedia.org — File:Goblin shark snout.jpg
- • fishbase.se — Mitsukurina-owstoni.html
- • animaldiversity.org — Mitsukurina owstoni
- • Silhouette: PhyloPic — Dianne Bray / Museum Victoria (vectorized by T. Michael Keesey) · CC BY 3.0
Recorded dimensions are widely cited representative estimates from public literature and may vary by study or specimen.