A team exploring the Tonga Trench used a remote, baited camera to film a goblin shark in 2024—after a 2019 footage discovery that later widened what scientists knew about the species’ range and depth. The findings, published in the Journal of Fish Biology, als
For more than a century, the goblin shark has remained mostly a rumor you hear from fishermen’s nets—an animal of total darkness, living thousands of feet down, rarely seen and never properly witnessed in its own world.
Marine biologist Alan Jamieson had stopped expecting otherwise. “After all,” as he put it, the goblin shark had only been observed when it was caught and hauled to the surface since it was discovered more than 100 years ago. Then, two years ago, the Pacific Ocean’s Tonga Trench changed the story.
While exploring the second-deepest point on Earth with a remote. baited camera. researchers captured what Jamieson described as the moment a creature he never thought they would see alive finally appeared. “The Goblin Shark is one of these deep-sea charismatic animals that I never thought we’d see alive. ” he said in a press release accompanying a study released this week on two separate sightings. “But to then learn that colleagues in Hawai’i also saw one was just incredible.”.
goblin shark Tonga Trench deep sea deep-sea camera Journal of Fish Biology Minderoo-UWA Deep-Sea Research Center Ocean Exploration Trust Jarvis Island Palmyra Atoll living fossils Mitsukurinidae
So it was real this whole time??
I don’t get how they’re filming stuff thousands of feet down and it’s all clear? Like is the water not insane out there? Also goblin shark sounds fake, like a movie name.
Wait I thought goblin sharks were already known from back in 2019? So the 2024 footage is basically just “another angle”? Idk the article says 2019 discovery then 2 years ago Tonga trench, and I’m confused which one actually changed the range/depth thing.
The ocean really just hides everything until somebody brings a gadget and bait, huh. I always assumed those things only get seen when fishermen accidentally catch them, so good for scientists I guess. Still weird that it took 100+ years to “witness” alive… like we were just fishing the wrong direction or something.