On January 25th 2007 officials from the Tokyo Sea Life Park went out into Tokyo Bay after a ‘prehistoric’ and rare Goblin Shark had become entangled in fishermen’s nets at a depth of about 550 feet.
Reports say the primitive shark – also known as the Elfin Shark – was subsequently displayed in an aquarium until it expired some days later.
More info on Mitsukurina owstoni is available from Biology of Sharks and Rays:
“As depicted in most shark books, the Goblin Shark (Mitsukurina owstoni) looks quite unlike any other lamnoid (see The Evolution of Lamnoid Sharks) – more like a snaggle-toothed, beaked gargoyle with a carpenters’ trowel projecting forward from its ‘forehead’. But this unwieldy headgear is actually an artifact of the goblin shark’s extremely protrusile (‘Capable of being thrust outward’) jaws.”
Media coverage has been sparse compared to that given to the capture, also in January and also in Japan, of another ‘living fossil’ called the Frilled Shark (see “Rare Video of Prehistoric Frilled Shark“).
The video and more info at “Goblin Shark: Rare Video of a ‘Living fossil’ (Japan, February 2007)“
John Latter / Jorolat
Evolution Research:
http://evomech1.blogspot.com/
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