THE ANIMAL FILES

Goblin shark

Mitsukurina owstoni

The jaws reach forward before the whole shark needs to.

The goblin shark combines a long flattened snout with jaws that can project far ahead of their resting position. Its soft body and small fins contrast with the rapid mouth movement recorded during prey capture.[1]

Follow the evidence ↓
Goblin shark
Image: Hungarian Snow · Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0
Snout
Long, flattened and sensory[1]
Jaws
Highly protrusible[1]
Food
Deep-water fishes, cephalopods and crustaceans[1]

A sensory blade, not a digging shovel

The soft snout carries numerous electroreceptive organs that detect weak electrical fields from other animals. Its shape alone is not evidence that it digs prey out of sediment.[1]

A rapid extension from a slow body

Elastic structures associated with the jaw joint contribute to its forward projection. Recorded strikes show complex lower-jaw movements and reopening during capture. The mouth can close the final gap without requiring the body to travel that entire distance.[1]

Prey from more than the bottom

Known food includes deep-water bony fishes, squid and crustaceans. Some are bottom-associated and others live in midwater, supporting feeding in more than one part of the deep-water habitat.[1]

A COMMON MIX-UP

Does a slow-looking shark necessarily have a slow strike?

No. Goblin-shark jaw projection can be rapid even when the overall body is not built for sustained high-speed pursuit.[1]

TRY A LITTLE REASONING

Why is feeding video useful beyond measuring jaw shape?

Reveal the explanation

Video reveals the sequence and timing of projection, closure and reopening that a preserved jaw alone cannot show.[1]

Sources & editorial notes

Adapted and translated from the cited Wikipedia revisions, with source-linked reasoning. Image credit and licence are listed separately above.

Adapted and translated from Wikipedia contributors; exact revisions are linked below. CC BY-SA 4.0

  1. Wikipedia contributors — Goblin shark (fixed revision; adapted and translated)
  2. NCBI Taxonomy — Mitsukurina owstoni (identity and classification)

Last fact check:

One discovery leads to another

Common thresherThe tail joins the hunt.Alopias vulpinus ↗Great white sharkA long journey can run on reserves in the liver.Carcharodon carcharias ↗Basking sharkA giant open mouth can be a plankton filter rather than a large-prey trap.Cetorhinus maximus ↗