The Goblin Shark Of Tokyo Bay, Japan (Mitsukurina Owstoni)
This month's article series is going to be about the beautiful body of water known as Tokyo Bay. Tokyo Bay is a large bay that is located next to the cities of Tokyo & Yokohama at the Northern end, & Yokosuka at the Southern End. It is extremely industrialized, with many harbors, & commercial districts along its shore. The bay rests in the Northern Pacific Ocean, on the island of Honshu. Though the bay has an average depth of 130 feet, it can become over 1,500 feet deep in certain areas. The area as well as the bay itself is well known in film, as it is often the place where the fictional kaiju “Godzilla”, emerges from. Godzilla is a fictional Japanese Monster, created by Toho Studios in the 1950’s.
Historically, the bay has been used for trade, & as a strategic location during war. Islands in the bay both artificial & natural have been used to store artillery during battle, & have been used as fortresses.
The bay is extremely biodiverse, with animals of many varieties living both in its waters & around its shore. One of the strangest of these animals is the Goblin Shark (Mitsukurina Owstoni).
The Goblin Shark is a strange species of deep-sea shark found in coastal deep-sea areas of the world. They are known to inhabit the upper continental slope of the ocean, near where the coastal shelf begins to drop off. The Goblin Shark is a part of an ancient 125-million-year-old lineage of sharks. They are extremely elusive & rare due to how deep in the ocean they live. They are well known for a few of their strange adaptations, such as distinctive pink skin, sharp nail-like teeth, & the ability to protrude their jaws forward when catching fish. Their snout is distinctive as it is long, triangular, & bladelike. Interestingly, the snout is known to decrease in size with age.
In this article, we will be discussing the discovery & life of the Goblin Shark, the mating tactics, techniques, habits, practices, procedures, & strategies of the Goblin Shark, the distribution of the Goblin Shark, & the scientific detailings of the Goblin Shark. With that being said, let us delve into Mitsukurina Owstoni.
The Discovery & Life Of The Goblin Shark
The Goblin Shark was discovered in 1898 by David Starr Jordan, an American ichthyologist & marine biologist. Typically, mature Goblin Sharks are between 8.5 & 15 feet long. Individuals will usually not exceed 460 pounds, unless pregnant. In 2024, the longest goblin shark on record was recorded to be 20 feet long, while the heaviest was recorded to be 1,800 pounds.
The life span of a Goblin Shark is approximately 60 years, which is quite long for a shark. Generally, deep-sea sharks tend to live longer as a result of their slow metabolism.
While little is known about their intelligence, it is known that when compared to other sharks, their cognitive abilities are very limited. Overall, they are not very intelligent for sharks.
Due to their deep-sea environments, they seldom get to interact with humans. On the rare occasion that they do interact with humans, it is often as a result of being a bycatch from deep sea fishing. They are not adapted to be very active & thus are not very aggressive. Individuals do not seem to be very territorial, & seem to migrate throughout their lives. Goblin sharks seem to be solitary animals, apart from reproduction. They do not have complex social behaviors or social structures.
Individual Goblin Sharks are somewhat poor swimmers, & are able to swim through undulatory swimming. Undulatory swimming involves flexing one’s body back & forth, to propel yourself forward. They are able to swim at a maximum speed of 15 miles per hour. They lack agility, however, their body design didn’t evolve to have much agility. Sharks are able to keep negative buoyancy by keeping extra oil stored in their tissues, making them lighter than the water around them.
Unlike humans, sharks do not have long restful periods in which they rest all of their brains. They are only able to turn off half of their brain, & sleep for short periods of time. Generally, sharks will not sleep for longer than 30 minutes at a time, however, they will take these small amounts of sleep frequently.
The Goblin Shark’s diet consists of many different kinds of fish, cephalopods, & large crustaceans. Goblin sharks will hunt in both the day & the night, depending on when their prey is most active. They are not cannibalistic at any stage in their lives. It is not clear how much they eat per day, however, the fuel that they get from the food they eat is very optimized. Their metabolisms are incredibly slow, as they do not have access to much food at low depths. It seems that they locate food by smell, sound, & feeling their electrical fields through a special sensor in their nose.
Goblin Sharks have distinctive pink or light blue skin, & a long spade-shaped nose. Their bodies are long & flabby, lacking much muscle. They have teeth that are long & needle-like, & protrude from their mouth. As of 2024, they are listed as Least Concern by the IUCN Red List.
The Mating Tactics, Techniques, Habits, Practices, Procedures, & Strategies Of The Goblin Shark
The Goblin Shark breeds via sexual reproduction, & has 2 distinct sexes. The age at which they sexually mature is currently unknown. Once they do mature, they will begin looking for a sexual partner. It is unfortunately not clear if they breed multiple times a year, & how their breeding rituals differ as they age.
After 2 individuals meet & begin to copulate, the male will eject his sperm into the female, fertilizing the eggs through internal fertilization. Once the male has ejected his sperm, it is unclear if he will have any further contact with his shark pups. The pups will gestate for an unclear amount of time. Goblin Sharks are ovoviviparous, meaning that although the female will gestate the children inside of her, & will give birth to live young, the children gestate in eggs & do not develop a placenta. The female will give birth to a small litter of pups, & will not help to raise them, instead leaving them to fend for themselves in the vastness of the ocean.
The Distribution Of The Goblin Shark
Goblin Sharks are found all around the world in the Northern & Southern Hemisphere & in the Indian, Atlantic, & Pacific Oceans. They can be found in the Upper Continental Slope, which is the area in which the Continental Shelf will begin to slant into the open ocean. Individuals are able to live in waters as deep as 4,265 feet (1299.972 meters) deep. Throughout their lives, they will not remain in the same place, & will migrate quite a lot. During the daytime, they will remain at very low depths. However, during the night, they will rise to the oceanic surface, or more shallow waters.
The Scientific Detailings Of The Goblin Shark
Goblin Shark Teeth are quite long & slender, which is useful for ripping flesh from bone while hunting. Apart from smell & sound, Goblin Sharks are able to hunt by sensing the electrical fields created by their prey. They sense these electrical fields through many electroreceptors, known as Ampullae of Lorenzini, located in their nose. Individuals are able to sense these electrical fields from no more than 3 feet away. Tapeworms are known to inhabit the internal organs of the Goblin Shark, most commonly species Litobothrium amischensis, & Marsupiobothrium gobelinus. Parasitic Copepods may also inhabit the gills of the Goblin Shark, however this is not confirmed.
Their phylum is Chordata, meaning that they developed these 5 characteristics all species under the phylum of Chordata develop 5 similar characteristics either in adulthood or as juveniles. The characteristics that they develop include, a notochord, dorsal hollow nerve cord, endostyle or thyroid, pharyngeal slits, & a post-anal tail. Their class is Chondrichthyes. This is a class of fish that are primarily composed of cartilage. This class can be compared to the class Osteichthyes, which is a class of fish that are primarily composed of bone. A few universal characteristics for any fish in the class Chondrichthyes are that they all are jawed vertebrates, they have paired fins, paired nares, scales, & a heart with chambers in a series. Their order is that of Lamniformes. This is an order of sharks. A few universal characteristics for creatures classified within this order are that they possess two dorsal fins, an anal fin, five gill slits, eyes without nictitating, & a mouth cavity that extends behind the eyes. Creatures from this order also usually maintain a higher body temperature than the water surrounding them. This order has the largest macropredatory shark to ever exist, the Otodus Megalodon. Their family is Mitsukurinidae, a family that contains a lineage of ancient deep-sea sharks. As of 2024, The Goblin Shark is the only living Shark in this family. Their genus is Mitsukurina, named in honor of the Japanese Zoologist Kakichi Mitsukuri. Their binomial name is Mitsukurina Owstoni.
Directories / Credits
Citation No. 1: “Tokyo Bay”, Written by Unknown, & Published on July 20th, 1998. Published by Encyclopaedia Britannica. Retrieval Date: July 21st, 2024.
Citation No. 2: “Marine Encyclopedia Of Sharks & Rays: Goblin Shark”, Written by Unknown, & Published at an Unknown Date. Published by Oceana. Retrieval Date: July 21st, 2024.
Citation No. 3: “The Goblin Shark”, Written by Unknown, & Published at an Unknown Date. Published by the National Museum Of Natural History. Retrieval Date: July 21st, 2024.
Citation No. 4: “Mitsukurina Owstoni”, Written by Vanessa Jordan, & Published at an Unclear Date. Published by the Florida Museum of Natural History. Retrieval Date: July 21st, 2024.
Citation No. 5: “Goblin Shark”, Written by B. Finucci, & C. A. J. Duffy, & Last Updated in 2017. Published by the International Union For The Conservation of Nature Red List. Retrieval Date: July 21st, 2024.
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