GOBLIN SHARKS FILMED ALIVE IN DEEP OCEAN FOR FIRST TIME

Australian scientists have recorded goblin sharks alive in their natural deep-sea habitat for the first time. The footage, captured during an expedition to the Tonga Trench in 2024 aboard the R/V Dagon, lasted just over 20 seconds. A separate sighting occurred near Jarvis Island in the Pacific, thousands of kilometres away. Both observations have been published together in the Journal of Fish Biology.

Prof Alan Jamieson of the Minderoo-UWA Deep-Sea Research Centre directed the expedition and co-authored the published findings. He noted that goblin sharks had previously been observed only when accidentally caught on fishing lines, with virtually no scientific understanding of their behaviour. The creatures possess a distinctive mouth that protrudes from the head and retracts when alive, contrary to their appearance in dead specimens. The footage required over 50 days of continuous filming to obtain, given the extreme rarity of such sightings.

The discoveries expand the known distribution of goblin sharks across the Pacific Ocean. Prior research had suggested the species inhabited the western coast of the United States, Australia, and Japan, along with narrow regions in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. The new sightings in separate Pacific locations confirm a wider presence than previously documented. Scientists now possess the first direct visual evidence of goblin shark behaviour in their natural environment.