Shadows from the Abyss: First Live Observations of the Goblin Shark Mitsukurina owstoni in Its Natural Habitat

A new paper in the Journal of Fish Biology reports the first published in situ observations of the goblin shark (Mitsukurina owstoni) in its natural deep-ocean environment — ending a long gap in our ecological understanding of one of the most iconic elasmobranchs in the deep sea.

The first observation was captured during Expedition NA110 aboard the E/V Nautilus in 2019 where I served as lead scientist while surveying deep-sea ecosystems within the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument near Jarvis Island. ROV Hercules documented a goblin shark alive on an unnamed seamount in the Central Pacific — far outside the species' previously known range — during a publicly livestreamed dive. A second sighting was independently obtained in 2024 on the slope of the Tonga Trench via baited lander camera during the Inkfish Open Ocean Expedition (Minderoo-UWA Deep-Sea Research Center).

Together, these observations extend the known geographic range of M. owstoni significantly into the Central Pacific and push its depth record by nearly 700 m beyond prior estimates. The Tonga Trench sighting also sets a new maximum depth record for the entire order Lamniformes, extending it by 108 m. Prior to this work, all observations of living goblin sharks were restricted to individuals incidentally captured at the surface on longlines — providing virtually no ecological data on behavior, habitat, or distribution in situ.

These records highlight the scientific value of open-access deep-sea video archives and systematic ROV survey efforts in underexplored ocean regions. The NA110 footage, publicly archived through Nautilus Live on YouTube, proved critical to establishing the first confirmed Central Pacific record for this species.

🎥 Watch the NA110 footage and discussion of the discovery: Nautilus Live — Goblin Shark

📄 Judah, A. B., et al. (2026). First in situ observations of the goblin shark Mitsukurina owstoni. Journal of Fish Biology, 1–6. https://doi.org/10.1111/jfb.70505