A fisherman accidentally caught a rare goblin shark in his net off the Florida Keys in the south-eastern US.
A shrimp fisherman was surprised to find the 5.5m goblin shark in his net, with only one of the species ever previously recorded in the Gulf of Mexico.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said:
NOAA biologists are working with the fisherman to collect important information about the shark, a known deep water species. Shortly after capture, the shark was released and swam away. Biologists encourage people to call and report these rare sightings and catches as the information they can collect allows them to know more about a species.
So it's definitely a goblin #shark pic.twitter.com/IAfCYykdpL
— David Shiffman (@WhySharksMatter) May 1, 2014
And it's definitely really big. pic.twitter.com/BZjx8431Rp
— David Shiffman (@WhySharksMatter) May 1, 2014
Goblin sharks are a rare and poorly understood species of deep-sea shark that feeds on mostly teleost fish, cephalopods, and crustaceans such as shrimp. It is the last representative of a species of the Mitsukurinidae family of shark which is around 125 million years old.
