Scientists recorded a goblin shark swimming in its deep-sea habitat for the first time, with one sighting near Jarvis Island in July 2019 and another in the Tonga Trench in August 2024. The findings, published on May 19 in the Journal of Fish Biology, give researchers their clearest look yet at a species usually seen only after it is hauled up by fishing gear.
Aaron Judah, a marine biologist at the University of Hawaii at Mānoa and the study’s lead author, said, “Seeing the most iconic of all the deep-sea sharks alive and looking healthy in its natural habitat is a unique honor.” The 2024 observation put the shark around 6,550 feet below the surface, and the 2019 animal was seen near roughly 4,000 feet deep.
Jarvis Island and Tonga Trench
The July 2019 sighting came from a remotely operated underwater vehicle that captured an 11-foot-long, solitary male near Jarvis Island in the central Pacific Ocean. Scientists estimated that shark was more than 50 years old based on its size.
In August 2024, a different team recorded another goblin shark in the Tonga Trench. That animal did not come in for bait, but it swam in front of the camera long enough for a clear view.
What the sightings changed
The 2024 record extends the species’ known depth range by nearly 2,300 feet. Together, the two observations expand the known geographic range by thousands of miles and push the species farther across the Pacific than scientists had recorded before.
Before these sightings, most live observations came from sharks accidentally hauled in on fishing lines. Scientists had documented goblin sharks only along the western coast of the United States, in the Gulf of Mexico, along the southwest coast of Australia, near Japan and near New Zealand.
Aaron Judah and the deep sea
Alan Jamieson, a marine biologist and founding director of the Minderoo-University of Western Australia Deep-Sea Research Center, said, “They’ve captured the imagination of so many people, but we’ve never really seen them alive.” He also said, “We actually know virtually nothing about them.”
Culum Brown, a behavioral ecologist at Macquarie University in Australia, called them “arguably the ugliest shark on the planet,” adding, “They are ridiculously horrendous to look at.” The species can grow up to 20 feet long, with pinkish-gray skin, soft flabby bodies, small fins and elongated snouts.
For marine biologists, the practical value is direct: the new footage moves goblin sharks from rare bycatch into animals that can be watched in place, at depth, across two oceans and two years apart. That gives researchers a better map of where to look next and a firmer baseline for future deep-sea surveys.
