Goblin Shark Catch, Green Cape, New South Wales, Australia, South Pacific Ocean

The body is fairly slender and flabby. The two dorsal fins are similar in size and shape, both being small and rounded. The pectoral fins are also rather small and rounded. The pelvic and anal fins have long bases and are larger than the dorsal fins. The caudal peduncle is flattened from side-to-side and lacks keels or notches. The asymmetric caudal fin has a long upper lobe with a shallow ventral notch near the tip, and an indistinct lower lobe. The soft, semitranslucent skin has a rough texture from a covering of dermal denticles, each shaped like a short upright spine with lengthwise ridges. In life, this species is pink or tan due to visible blood vessels beneath the skin; the color deepens with age, and young sharks may be almost white. The fins' margins are translucent gray or blue, and the eyes are black with bluish streaks in the iris. After death, the coloration quickly fades to dull gray or brown. Adult sharks usually measure between 3 and 4 m (10 and 13 ft) long. However, the capture of an enormous female estimated at 5.4–6.2 m (18–20 ft) long in 2000 showed this species can grow far larger than previously suspected. The maximum weight on record is 210 kg (460 lb) for a 3.8-m-long shark.
Distribution and habitat
The goblin shark has been caught in all three major oceans, indicating a wide global distribution. In the Atlantic Ocean, it has been recorded from the northern Gulf of Mexico, Suriname, French Guiana, and southern Brazil in the west, and France, Portugal, Madeira, and Senegal in the east. It has also been collected from seamounts along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. In the Indo-Pacific and Oceania, it has been found off South Africa, Mozambique, Japan, Taiwan, Australia and New Zealand. A single eastern Pacific specimen is known, collected off southern California. This species is most often found over the upper continental slope at depths of 270–960 m (890–3,150 ft). It has been caught as deep as 1,300 m (4,300 ft), and a tooth has been found lodged in an undersea cable at a depth of 1,370 m (4,490 ft). Adults inhabit greater depths than juveniles. Immature goblin sharks frequent the submarine canyons off southern Japan at depths of 100–350 m (330–1,150 ft), with individuals occasionally wandering into inshore waters as shallow as 40 m (130 ft). In April 2014, fishermen in Key West, Florida, while fishing in the Gulf of Mexico caught a goblin shark in their fishing net, only the second one ever to be caught in the Gulf. The shark was photographed and released back into the water. In July 2014 Goblin Shark was found in a fishery net in Sri Lanka. This was reported in Valaichchenai eastern coastal line in Sri Lanka. The shark was about 4 feet long and weighed about 7.5kg. The shark was handed over to the NARA (National Aquatic Resource Research & Development Agency) for further research.