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Watch A Goblin Shark Take A Bite

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Danielle Andrew

Editorial Intern

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339 Watch A Goblin Shark Take A Bite
The head of a juvenile Goblin Shark, Mitsukurina owstoni, with the jaws protruded showing the long slender teeth. Source: Dianne Bray / Museum Victoria. License: CC by Attribution

This is what a goblin shark looks like when it takes a bite.

Science Channel

This creepy-looking goblin shark almost manages to take the hammerhead's award of weirdest looking shark to swim the ocean.

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Goblin sightings aren’t all that common; they’ve been observed along the coast of Japan, the Pacific Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean, but these fish like to live in deep water and are normally found close to the ocean floor, so they're rarely seen

Vanessa Jordan from the Florida Natural History museum explains that the shark uses electro detection to find its prey, and once located its jaw is thrust forward out of its mouth using a double set of ligaments at the mandibular joints. Whilst swimming it holds its jaws tightly and uses its jaw as a type of catapult when hunting. This projection of its jaw allows it to snap at its prey quickly and snatch it out of the water.

Although you see the shark biting at the divers arm here, its main choice of snack is normally shrimp, fish and squid. So next time you fancy a snorkel along the coast of Japan, you don’t have to worry too much about coming face to face with one of these beauties.

Watch the full video here

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