Cartilaginous fish · Lamniformes · Mitsukurinidae

Goblin Shark

Mitsukurina owstoni

Least Concern

The species is abundant and widely distributed; it faces no significant short-term risk. See full glossary

The goblin shark is a species of lamniform elasmobranch of the family Mitsukurinidae. It is quite unusual in its form, since it has a marked snout-like extension projecting over its mouth, freely moving jaws, and a very strange colour, pink with a grey back. The goblin shark is the only living member of the family Mitsukurinidae, of which Scapanorhynchus and Anomotodon are its extinct relatives. The goblin shark is the only member alive today; it is also the only species within the genus.

Weight

100 kg – 210 kg

Size

3 m – 6 m

Lifespan

60 years

Diet

Carnivore

Feeds mainly on other animals.

Activity

Crepuscular

Active above all at dawn and dusk.

Social structure

Solitary

Lives and hunts alone, joining others only to breed.

Sighting difficulty

Easy

OceanCarnivore Crepuscular Variable activity Solitary Fish Ocean

110countries 1dive sites

Fun facts

GeneralIt shoots its jaws out like a catapult to seize prey in the dark.
anatomíaIts jaw sits drawn back inside its head and shoots forward like a slingshot the instant it strikes, one of the fastest bites known in any shark.
historia naturalIn 2026 it was filmed alive and swimming free in its own habitat for the first time, after more than a century known only from accidentally caught specimens.
evoluciónIt belongs to a lineage going back some 125 million years and is the only living member of its family, which makes it a genuine living fossil.
Its jaws shoot forward: elastic ligaments fling them out of its head in a fraction of a second, a protrusion mechanism that is the most extreme known in any shark.
Its pink colour is not pigment: the skin is so thin and translucent that the blood vessels of the muscle show through.
It is the sole survivor of a family more than a hundred million years old, and its fossil relatives are known from the Cretaceous: it is considered a living fossil in the strict sense.

Life cycle & biology

Skeleton type: Vertebrate - cartilaginous skeleton (fish)
Habitat & environment: Continental slopes and deep water between 250 and 1,300 metres, in every ocean

Sources consulted: https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitsukurina_owstoni