Goblin Shark Wrassling

Some people look at this and see a terrifying undersea monster with potrusible jaws like our old pal from Alien. I see my dog Izzy playfully tugging on my sleeve... after some sort of horrible experiment that mutated her into a nightmarish killing machine. Kidding kidding.

The goblin shark is a fascinating resident of the deep sea. They are most commonly associated with the waters around Japan where most specimens are recovered as by-catch from fishing trawlers. When a goblin shark finds its prey, it protrudes its jaws and uses a tongue-like muscle to suck the victim into its sharp front teeth.

Thanks to Bill Kang for forwarding along.

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If that's a submersible, that person must be a transformer.

It's still really cool footage, though, I remember just seeing pictures of goblin sharks when I was a kid. They're even weirder now that I've seen them in action.

I don't see what the big deal is, my grandpa does that with his teeth all the time. :P

Really neat, I hadn't heard of goblin sharks before.

It's an evolutionary miracle! What an extraordinary animal. I really hope they aren't endangered - sharkfin soup fodder etc., etc.

By Hilary Minor (not verified) on 27 Aug 2008 #permalink

Ahh! Yet another reason to never, ever go in the ocean!

(Sharks freak me out.)