A 125-Million-Year-Old Shark Finally Caught on Camera!
The News
Scientists have just published the first-ever video of a real, live goblin shark swimming in the deep ocean! Goblin sharks belong to a family that's nearly 125 million years old — they were swimming before T. rex was even around — but before now, nobody had ever filmed one alive in its natural home. A robotic underwater camera caught one near the Jarvis Island seamount almost 4,000 feet down, and a second one was filmed in the Tonga Trench almost a mile and a quarter deep.
Professor Pip's lab was glowing amber in the dusk light. On the workbench sat a small model of the strangest fish anyone had ever seen — pinkish-grey, with a long flat snout like a sword and a mouth that did not sit where mouths usually sit.
"Oh my whiskers," whispered Mia, leaning over the bench. "What… is that?"
Professor Pip's tail swished with excitement. He adjusted his crooked spectacles and lifted his magnifying glass over the model. "This, my fellow scientists, is a goblin shark. And until last month, no one — not one human — had ever seen a healthy goblin shark alive in its own home."
"How come?" asked Leo.
"Because its home is over a mile DOWN," said Pip, gesturing at the blue porthole on the back wall. "Where the sunlight doesn't reach. Where the water is freezing and crushingly heavy. Goblin sharks have been alive on Earth for about 125 million years — older than most dinosaurs — and yet they live so deep that we almost never bump into them."
"That long?!" said Mia. "How do they even eat down there with no light?"
Pip's eyes glittered. "Aha! That is the wonderful question. Watch this." He reached behind the model and gave a tiny lever a flick. SNAP! The shark's jaws shot forward — out, out, out — sticking out a whole shark-snout's length past where the face had been a moment before. The kids jumped.
"WHOA!" they cried together.
"They don't chase their food," said Pip. "Their jaws do. Goblin shark jaws are protrusible — pro-TRU-suh-bul. That means they can launch out from the face like a slingshot. Whoosh! Fish caught!"
"Like a frog's tongue!" said Leo.
"Exactly right!" beamed Pip. "And see that long, flat snout? It's covered in tiny electric sensors. Every fish that wiggles its tail nearby gives off tiny electric jolts — too small for you to feel, but the goblin shark feels them like little tugs on a fishing line. So in the pitch-dark deep ocean, where they're nearly blind, they 'see' with electricity instead."
Mia's eyes went huge. "Their face is a fishing pole AND a sword AND an electricity-feeler?!"
"Precisely. A wonderful Swiss-Army-shark." Pip looked out at the dark blue porthole. "Imagine living somewhere a mile beneath the waves your whole life — and finally, in 2026, someone you've never met catches you on camera, just being yourself. The deep ocean still has so many secrets left."
He turned to the kids. "Now I wonder… what other 125-million-year-old neighbors might be hiding down there, waiting to be spotted?"
Spark a Conversation
- Why might a goblin shark's jaws shoot out instead of staying put like ours? What's the advantage?
- What other senses would be useful in a place with no light at all?
- If a creature has barely changed for 125 million years, what does that say about how well it fits its home?