08/02/2026
Living Goblin Sharks Filmed in Their Natural Habitat for the First Time
Scientists have captured the first confirmed footage of living goblin sharks swimming freely in their natural deep-sea environment.
Two separate sightings were identified in the central Pacific Ocean. In 2024, a baited underwater camera recorded a goblin shark along the slope of the Tonga Trench at a depth of 6,552 feet, or 1,997 meters. This was nearly 2,300 feet deeper than the species had previously been documented. The rare encounter lasted just over 20 seconds during more than 50 days of continuous filming.
Researchers later confirmed a second sighting in footage recorded near Jarvis Island in 2019, at a depth of approximately 4,058 feet, or 1,237 meters.
Before these discoveries, living goblin sharks had only been observed after accidental capture, and many died shortly after being brought to the surface. The new footage provides the first known views of healthy individuals moving through their natural habitat.
Often described as “living fossils,” goblin sharks are the only surviving members of an evolutionary lineage dating back roughly 125 million years. Their pale pink bodies, elongated snouts and rapidly extendable jaws make them one of the ocean’s most unusual predators.
These discoveries expand the goblin shark’s known geographic and depth range while offering another reminder of how little humanity has explored the deep ocean.
[Judah, M., et al. (2026). First in situ observations of living goblin sharks (Mitsukurina owstoni) in the deep Pacific. Journal of Fish Biology. DOI: 10.1111/jfb.70505]