Mitsukurina owstoni

The goblin shark is a rare species of deep-sea shark. Sometimes called a "living fossil", it is the only extant representative of the family Mitsukurinidae, a lineage some 125 million years old. This pink-skinned animal has a distinctive profile with an elongated, flat snout, and highly protrusible jaws containing prominent nail-like teeth. It typically reaches a length of 3 to 4 meters when fully grown, although it can grow significantly larger—such as one specimen captured in 2000, which was believed to measure around 6 meters. Goblin sharks are benthopelagic creatures that inhabit upper continental slopes, submarine canyons, and seamounts throughout the world at depths greater than 100 m (330 ft), with adults found deeper than juveniles. Some researchers believed that these sharks could also dive to depths of up to 1,300 m (4,270 ft), for short periods; footage captured in 2024 suggests that their range could be deeper than previously thought, with a confirmed sighting of an adult swimming at 2,000 m (6,560 ft).

Mitsukurina owstoni

Michigan State University/USFWS · Public Domain · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Also called
goblin sharkPBDB
Sits inside
MitsukurinaPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Lamniformes
Life habit
nektonicPBDB, for Lamniformes
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Lamniformes

Time the record covers

At most 21 million years on record.

Every occurrence read is dated to somewhere between 23.04 Mya and 2.58 Mya, and nothing in the dating separates them, so that window is what the record shows rather than a span.

Oligocene — about 0 of 3 occurrencesMiocene — about 3 of 3 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 0 of 3 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 0 of 3 occurrences24–23 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences21–21 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences19–19 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences16–16 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences14–14 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences11–11 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences11–9.9 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences9.9–9.2 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences9.2–8.5 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences8.5–7.8 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences7.8–7.1 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences7.1–6.4 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences6.4–5.7 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences5.7–4.9 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences4.9–4.2 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences4.2–3.5 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences3.5–2.8 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences2.8–2.1 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences23.5 Mya2.1 Mya

3 occurrences of Mitsukurina owstoni on record, most of them in the Miocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group, and the chart stops with its fossils rather than at the present. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

3 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

1 formation

Duho — 36.11°N, 129.40°E

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The named rock units Mitsukurina owstoni has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 1 occurrence has no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Mitsukurina owstoni and its relatives

Miocene

Where Mitsukurina owstoni and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

21 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 3 sites for Mitsukurina owstoni, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

2 references

Each of the 3 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Mitsukurina owstoni

Credit
Michigan State University/USFWS
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Mitsukurina owstoni was found in Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itMitsukurina through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Jordan 1898