On April 19, Shrimpers off the coast of Key West, Florida accidentally pulled up an incredibly rare, almost prehistoric looking goblin shark. The goblin shark is so rare that the first Gulf sighting of one was over 10 years ago and resulted in a scientific paper being written.
“I didn’t even know what it was,” said fisherman Carl Moore, according to The Houston Chronicle, “I didn’t get the tape measure out because that thing’s got some wicked teeth, they could do some damage.” The shark was estimated to have been 18 feet long.
The goblin shark is a rare, poorly understood species of deep-sea shark, sometimes called a “living fossil.” A shark expert at National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, John Carlson, has reported that, “This is great news.” Carlson said that according to The Houston Chronicle that, “This is only the second confirmed sighting in the Gulf, the majority of specimens are found off Japan or in the Indian Ocean and around South Africa.” The goblin shark has a lineage some 125 million years old.
David Shiffman, a Shark blogger and University of Miami marine biologist said that he did not even believe it would be possible that one would have turned up in the Gulf. “At first I wasn’t sure if it was even possible for this to happen, but then when the photos came through; it is undeniably a goblin shark. It’s a shark … that’s pink!”
This species is pink or tan due to visible blood vessels beneath the skin; the color deepens with age, and young sharks may be almost white.
Given the depths at which it lives, the goblin shark poses no danger to humans. A few specimens have been collected alive and brought to public aquariums, though it has been reported that they survived only for a very short time.
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