Page 46 - Shark

Weird and wonderful

One of the world’s most extraordinary
sharks, the megamouth was only discovered Places where the
in 1976. No one had come across this large first megamouths
were found
shark before, although it is over 16 ft (5 m)
long and weighs 1,500 lb (680 kg). Since 1976,
more than 35 megamouths have been found,
including one that was captured alive off the
coast of California in 1990. Scientists attached
radio tags to this living megamouth so they
could follow it (pp. 54–55). The shark spent the
day at 450–500 ft (135–150 m) down, feeding
on “krill” (shrimplike creatures). After sunset
it rose up to within 40 ft (12 m) of the surface
Big mouth
following its food source before its descent Megamouth means “big mouth,” a
into the depths at dawn. Another strange good name for a shark with a 3-ft
shark, the goblin shark, lives in deep water and (1-m) grin. This shark may lure krill
into its huge mouth with luminous
is rarely seen alive. Other mysteries have been megamouth was brought up dead
organs around its lips. The first
solved. No one knew what caused disk-shaped from 660 ft (200 m), entangled in the
bites on whales, dolphins, and seals, but the sea anchor of an American naval boat
off Hawaii. The second was caught in
culprits were found to be cookiecutter sharks. gill nets (long nets in which fish are
trapped) off California; the third was
Who knows what other weird and wonderful washed up and died on a beach near
sharks are still to be found deep in the ocean? Perth, Australia; while a fourth was
found dead and a fifth alive off the
coast of Japan. The sixth was caught
and released off the California coast.

Long snout with
sensory pores for Goblin shark
detecting prey

Top side Underside
of goblin of goblin
shark’s head shark’s head Really weiRd
These ugly sharks (above)
were first discovered by scientists off
the coast of Japan in 1898. They have
flabby bodies and are over 10 ft (3 m)
long. Not much is known about these
rare sharks, that live in deep water
down to at least 4,260 ft (1,300 m).
The drawing above shows the
jaws protruded.

glows in the daRk
This is one of the lantern sharks, which
live in the oceans’ dark depths. They are
called lantern sharks because they Distribution
are luminous, or glow in the dark. of cookiecutters
Among the world’s smallest sharks,
they grow to only 8 in (20 cm) long.

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