THE WORLD'S UGLIEST FISH

There are many contenders for the world's most ugliest fish, and let's face it, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Therefore levels of ugliness can only ever be a matter of opinion, but you are going to have to go some way to find a fish more ugly or disturbing than the goblin shark - Mitsukurina owstoni.

The world's ugliest fish - the goblin shark

Previously thought to be extinct the goblin shark is the only living representative of the family Mitsukurinidae, a lineage that dates back to some 125 million years ago.

Growing up to 13 feet long (although they are believed to get considerably larger), goblin sharks have been found inhabiting upper continental slopes, submarine canyons, and seamounts throughout the world. They are a deep water shark inhabiting depths greater than 100 meters.

The goblin shark is not a fast swimmer and is therefore considered to be an ambush predator. Its has low-density flesh and a large oily liver which make it neutrally buoyant. This allows the goblin shark to gently drift towards its designated prey with as little movement as possible. This allows it to avoid detection. Once they prey comes into range, the shark's specialized jaws are able to snap forward at incredible speed to capture it.

Goblin shark - Mitsukurina owstoni.

The goblin shark feeds on teleost fishes, cephalopods, and crustaceans both near the seafloor and in the middle of the water column. Its long snout is a specialised organ covered with ampullae of Lorenzini that enable it to sense minute electric fields produced by nearby prey.

Given the depths at which it lives, the goblin shark poses no danger to humans.

Dianne Bray / Museum Victoria file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license.

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