Mysterious Ocean
The ocean has always been a mystery to us. While we have made some pretty fascinating discoveries, there is still a whole world that we haven’t touched. Now and then we will discover something so shocking that it makes the news.
Captain Carl Moore
Captain Carl Moore fishes for shrimp daily in Key West, Florida. However, he did not expect to make a memorable catch one day when he went out fishing.
An Important Day
Captain Moore grew up on the water and always felt a calling towards it. Spending his days on fishing boats, he’s had many adventures. However, on April 19, 2014, Moore would catch something that would make the news.
Struggling to Pull In
When Moore felt something pulling on his line, he took notice. He struggled to bring it up to the boat. The creature thrashed in the water trying to get away. Alone on the boat, Moore was able to pull the creature out of the water.
Mystery Creature
Moore was shocked at what he brought out of the water. At first he thought it may be a shark, but upon closer look he determined he had never seen anything like it before.
What Big Teeth You Have
When interviewed about the catch, Moore told NBC, “When it came up, I didn’t know what it was. I didn’t measure him because his head was slashing around, and he had some mean-looking teeth and I didn’t want to get caught up in those.”
Hideous
Moore had never seen such an ugly creature. It was almost hard to look at. As the creature spent more time out of the water, its skin deteriorated revealing his teeth.
Fighting to Survive
The creature was still alive as he was hung up on the captain’s boat. He lunged towards Moore in an effort to bite him and get free back into the water. He wasn’t going down without a fight.
Photographic Evidence
Moore knew that if this catch got away nobody would believe him. So, he grabbed his camera and took photos of the creature. This would also help in trying to figure out what kind of animal this was.
Putting It Back
Moore decided to put his catch back because it was still alive and that he had no use for it. The fight the creature put up paid off.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Once Moore docked his ship, he went to NOAA to see if they had any information about the creature he caught. The NOAA knew exactly what Moore had caught.
John Karlson
“We don’t know very much about these animals, this is a very rare finding,” researcher John Karlson said. While they didn’t know much, they did have some interesting information.
Goblin Shark
The creature turned out to be a Goblin Shark. They typically live 4,3000 feet below the surface and are very rare.
Prehistoric
There have been sightings in the Pacific Ocean between Japan and California, so it was strange for it to appear in Florida. It turns out that these sharks come from a line of sharks that are 125 million years old.
Large Sharks
The goblin shark is pretty big. It can be 10-13 feet long and weight about 465 pounds. Their physical features suggest that they don’t move very fast in the water.
Living in Isolation
These sharks live so deep that they aren’t a threat to humans in the water. In fact, their bones are so poorly calcified that the change in pressure can cause issues with them.
Reproductive Cycle
It’s believed that these sharks do not reproduce very quickly due to the small population in the ocean. There have only been about 50 sightings of these sharks since the mid-1800s.
Research
Tokai University was able to keep one of these sharks for a day, but they didn’t have a chance to study it. Another research facility, Tokyo Sea Life Park, also had a chance to study the shark. However, it only survived for two days.
Strange Occurrence
There was a strange occurrence in 2003 off the coast of Taiwan. About 100 of these sharks showed up and were caught by some fishermen. This has never happened before and may never happen again.
Still a Mystery
The goblin shark is still a mystery. It’s difficult to study and is even more difficult to catch. Hopefully at some point researchers will know more about it in the future.