Rare goblin shark filmed in the wild for first time

A new peer-reviewed study confirms that goblin sharks—rare deep-sea “living fossil” sharks—were filmed alive in the wild for the first time. The footage came from separate expeditions near Jarvis Island in 2019 and along the Tonga Trench slope in 2024, expandi

The lights and the loud hum of a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) cut through the deep for about three-quarters of a mile below the surface—just long enough for researchers to see something they couldn’t yet name.

In 2019. video from the EV Nautilus. a research vessel run by the Ocean Exploration Trust. captured a goblin shark on an unnamed seamount near Jarvis Island. Jarvis Island is an uninhabited 1.7-square-mile coral island in the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument, a U.S. territory in the Central Pacific. When the team realized what they were looking at, it was already slipping away.

“At the time no one on board really knew the significance of what we had just seen,” Steve Auscavitch, a PhD scientist at the Department of Invertebrate Zoology at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History, said.

The ROV’s motor noise and lights scared the shark off after only a passing glimpse.

Still, the study later confirmed what that fleeting sighting might have been: the goblin shark—Mitsukurina owstoni—filmed in the wild, confirmed through peer review and backed by a second set of observations.

The goblin shark is often described as a “living fossil. ” the last representative of a lineage of the ancient shark family Mitsukurinidae that traces back about 125 million years. Its anatomy is built for the dark: its jaws can slingshot out to grab prey. and it has an enormous rostrum—essentially the shark’s nose—that resembles a horn. That rostrum is covered in Ampullae of Lorenzini. specialized sensory organs filled with gel that conduct electricity. helping the shark search for squid. fish and crustaceans in darkness.

Goblin sharks can grow to about 10 to 12 feet and are described as “almost ghostly white,” or pinkish—an uncharacteristic color for most sharks.

The new paper in the Journal of Fish Biology ties the story together with the second confirmed encounter. Researchers have now recorded the species in the wild in two separate sightings.

In 2024, baited camera footage taken in collaboration with the University of Western Australia captured a goblin shark along the slope of the Tonga Trench, about 1,250 miles southwest of Jarvis Island. Judah said it was the first time scientists saw the species living in trench slopes as well.

For lead author Aaron Judah, a PhD candidate at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, the breakthrough wasn’t only the footage—it was the fact that this time it cleared the highest bar: peer review with full confirmation.

“This is the first time a video of a live goblin shark in its natural habitat was peer reviewed and fully confirmed,” Judah said.

He added that videos of goblin sharks captured and brought closer to the surface had been taken before, and that there had also been one other possible video of a goblin shark taken in the wild that was never reviewed nor confirmed.

The path to this confirmation began with archives and an unexpected trail of hints. Judah said he later heard through the grapevine from fellow marine researchers that there was footage in a database his lab manages that might contain a goblin shark. He described being shocked because the species was not known from the Central Pacific, making it an “enormous range extension.”.

In the study’s framing, the animals are not just rare—they’re tied to specific deep-sea habitats. Judah said the research confirmed they use seamounts, which are “incredibly important” habitats for biodiversity.

The newly confirmed footage, Judah said, shows an impressive range extension. Goblin sharks have now been found in the Pacific Ocean, Atlantic Ocean and Indian Ocean, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

That matters for more than curiosity. James Lea, chief executive officer of the Save Our Seas Foundation, said goblin sharks are typically found in fisheries and rarely at that. The newly confirmed sightings give researchers something fisheries can’t: direct, living evidence in the wild.

Lea said, “We normally only ever really find them in fisheries, and rarely at that.”

Danielle Castillo. zoological curator of aquariums at SeaWorld San Diego. called the two observations “incredibly exciting” for the marine scientific community. pointing out that even two sightings can broaden knowledge of goblin shark geographic range and depth use. Lea put it more plainly: because the species is so rare, “every sighting gives us new glimpses into their lives.”.

But the study also leaves a sobering gap—one that is hard to fill when encounters are so scarce. Castillo said not much is currently known about goblin sharks’ natural history, including their behavior, life cycle, and population status.

There’s also urgency behind the science. Judah said the more researchers learn about rare marine species—and discover new ones—the better they can build conservation plans to protect ocean biodiversity. especially as fisheries extend to deeper waters and commercial seafloor mining becomes more commonplace. His warning was blunt: “If we don’t know if the animals there. we can’t really do anything with it or about it.”.

Deepwater exploration is becoming more accessible with submersibles, Lea said, and those tools may open the door to the “alien” world down there. “New species, behaviors and habitats continue to be discovered with almost every dive,” he said.

For a shark family that stretches back roughly 125 million years, the difference between myth and knowledge has come down to two moments on video—one startled away in 2019, and another captured along the edge of a trench in 2024—now fully documented for the world to see.

goblin shark Mitsukurina owstoni Mitsukurinidae EV Nautilus Ocean Exploration Trust Jarvis Island Tonga Trench deep-sea sharks seamounts Ampullae of Lorenzini rare marine species biodiversity conservation