Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Captures of the Goblin Shark Mitsukurina owstoni (Mitsukurinidae) off Portugal and in the Adjacent Waters with Comments on the Taxonomy and Distribution of the Species in the Waters of the Atlantic Ocean

  • SHARKS, SKATES, AND CHIMAERAS (CHONDRICHTHYES)
  • Published:
Journal of Ichthyology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

We have analyzed our own and published data on the captures of the goblin shark Mitsukurina owstoni in the waters of Portugal and from other areas of the Eastern and Western Atlantic. Comparative morphometric analysis showed that the variability of diagnostic characteristics of specimens from different areas, including the places of capture of type specimens of nominal species, corresponds to intraspecific variability due to size and age differences. The vast majority of large mature specimens with an absolute length of more than 300 cm of both sexes were caught in the waters of the Western Atlantic. In the eastern part of the Atlantic from the Bay of Biscay to South Africa, in the catches there were mainly juvenile specimens with a length of 110 to 228 cm.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1.
Fig. 2.
Fig. 3.

Similar content being viewed by others

REFERENCES

  1. Albuquerque, R.M., Peixes de Portugal e ilhas adjacentes. Chaves para a sua determinacão Port, Acta Biol. Ser. B, 1954–1956, vol. 5, pp. 1–1167 + i–xvi.

  2. Bass, A.J., D’Aubrey, J.D., and Kistnasamy, N., Sharks of the east coast of southern Africa. IV. The families Odontaspididae, Scapanorhynchidae, Isuridae, Cetorhinidae, Alopiidae, Orectolobidae and Rhiniodontidae, Invest. Rep. Oceanogr. Res. Inst, 1975, vol. 39, pp. 1–102.

    Google Scholar 

  3. Braganca, D.C., Ichtiologia. II. Esqualos obtidos nas costas de Portugal durante as campanhas de 1869–1903. Resultados das Investigac¸o˜es Scientificas feitas a` Bordo do Yacht Ame’lia. Lisboa: Impr. Nacional, 1904.

    Google Scholar 

  4. Cadenat, A. and Blache, J., 1981. Requins de Méditerranée et d’Atlantique (plus particulièrement de la côte occidentale d’Afrique), Faune Trop., 1981, vol. 21, pp. 1–330.

    Google Scholar 

  5. Compagno, L.J. Sharks of the world. An annotated and illustrated catalogue of shark species known to date, in FAO Species Catalogue, vol. 4, part 1: Hexanchiformes to Lamniformes, Rome: FAO, 1984.

  6. Compagno, L.J.V., Sharks of the world. An annotated and illustrated catalogue of shark species known to date, in FAO Species Catalogue for Fishery Purposes, vol. 2: Bullhead, mackerel and carpet sharks (Heterodontiformes, Lamniformes and Orectolobiformes). Rome: FAO, 2001.

    Google Scholar 

  7. Driggers, W.B., Davis, K.S., Moore, C., and Carlson, J.K., 2014. New record of a goblin shark Mitsukurina owstoni (Lamniformes: Mitsukurinidae) in the western North Atlantic Ocean, Mar. Biodiv. Rec., vol. 7, article e96. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1755267214000876

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Ebert, D.A. and Stehmann, M., Sharks, batoids, and chimaeras of the North Atlantic, in FAO Species Catalogue for Fishery Purposes. No 7, Rome: FAO, 2013.

    Google Scholar 

  9. Engelhardt, R., Uber einige neue selachierformen, Zool. Ank., 1912, vol. 34, pp. 643–648.

    Google Scholar 

  10. Eschmeyer, W.N., Catalog of Fishes. Special Publication, San Francisco: California Acad. Sci., 1998.

    Google Scholar 

  11. Glikman, L.S., Akuly paleogena i ikh stratigraficheskoe znachenie (Sharks of the Paleogene and Their Stratigraphic Significance), Moscow: Nauka, 1964a.

  12. Glikman, L.S., Elasmobranchii. Sharks, in Osnovy paleontologii. Beschelyustnye i ryby (Fundamentals of Paleontology. Jawless and Fishes), Leningrad: Nauka, 1964b, pp. 196–337.

  13. Glikman, L.D., Evolyutsiya melovykh i kainozoiskikh lamnoidnykh akul (Evolution of the Cretaceous and Cenozoic Lamnoid Sharks), Moscow: Nauka, 1980.

  14. Grijalba-Bendeck, M. and Acevedo, K., 2009. Mitsukurina owstoni Jordan (Chondrichthyes: Mitsukurinidae) first records for the Colombian Caribbean, Bol. Invest. Mar. Cost., 2009, vol. 38, no. 1, pp. 211–215. https://doi.org/10.25268/bimc.invemar.2009.38.1.341

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Holanda, F.C.A.F. and Asano-Filho, M., 2008. Registro de ocorrência do tubarão duende Mitsukurina owstoni (Jordan, 1898) (Lamniformes, Mitsukurinidae) na costa Norte do Brasil, Arquivos de Ciencias do Mar, 2008, vol. 41, no. 2, pp. 101–104. https://doi.org/10.32360/ACMAR.V41I2.6070

  16. Hussakof, L., A new goblin shark, Scapanorhynchus jordani, from Japan, Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., 1909, vol. 26, pp. 257–262.

    Google Scholar 

  17. Jordan, D.S., Description of a species of fish (Mitsukurina owstoni) from Japan, the type of a distinct family of lamnoid sharks, Proc. Calif. Acad. Sci. Zool., 1898, vol. 1, pp. 199–202.

    Google Scholar 

  18. Kriwet, J. and Benton, M.J., Neoselachian (Chondrichthyes, Elasmobranchii) diversity across the Cretaceous–Tertiary boundary, Palaeogeogr. Palaeoclimat. Palaeoecol., 2004, vol. 214, no. 3, pp. 181–194. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2004.02.049

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Kukuev, E.I., Ichthyofauna of the Angular Submarine Rise and the New England Submarine Ridge in the Northwest Atlantic Ocean, in Maloizuchennye ryby Otkrytogo okeana (Little-Studied Fishes of the Open Ocean), Moscow: Inst. Okeanol. Akad. Nauk SSSR, 1982, pp. 92–109.

  20. Nakaya, K., Tomita, T., Suda, K., et al., Slingshot feeding of the goblin shark Mitsukurina owstoni (Pisces: Lamniformes: Mitsukurinidae), Sci. Rep., 2016, vol. 6, no. 1, article 27786. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep27786

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  21. Nelson, J.S., Fishes of the World, Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, 2006.

    Google Scholar 

  22. Nobre, A., Fauna Marinha de Portugal, 1: Vertebrados (Mamíferos, Reptis e Peixes). Pôrto: Instituto de Investigação Científica de Zoologia, Universidade do Pôrto, 1935.

    Google Scholar 

  23. Orlov, A.M., Afanasiev, P.K., and Pelenev, D.V., First record of the goblin shark, Mitsukurina owstoni, (Mitsukurinidae) with notes on its distribution, J. Ichthyol., 2017, vol. 57, no. 2, pp. 329–332. https://doi.org/10.1134/S0032945217020138

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Parsons, G.R., Ingram, G.W.,Jr., and Havard, R., First record of the goblin shark Mitsukurina owstoni, Jordan (Family Mitsukurinidae) in the Gulf of Mexico, Southeast. Naturalist, 2002, vol. 1, no. 2, pp. 189–192.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Piotrovskiy, A.S. and Prut’ko, V.G., The occurrence of the goblin shark, Scapanorhynchus owstoni (Chondrichthyes, Scapanorhynchidae), in the Indian Ocean, J. Ichthyol., 1980, vol. 20, no. 1, pp. 124–125.

    Google Scholar 

  26. Prokofiev, A.M. and Kukuev, E.I., New findings of rare fish species from families Mitsukurinidae (Chondrichthyes), Muraenidae, Lophiidae, Macrouridae, and Psychrolutidae (Teleostei) on raises of the Atlantic ocean with the description of Gymnothorax walvisensis sp. nova, J. Ichthyol., 2009, vol. 49, no. 3, pp. 215–227. https://doi.org/10.1134/S0032945209030023

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Quero, J.C., Verron, R., and Cattin, Y., 1976. observations ichthyologiques effectuees au port de la rochelle en 1975, J. High Resolut. Chromatogr. Chromatogr. Commun., vol. 6, pp. 117–190.

    Google Scholar 

  28. Quéro, J.C., Capture de deux Scapanorhynchus owstoni (Jordan, 1898) (Selachii, Scapanorhynchidae) par des chalutiers de la Rochelle, Ann. Soc. Sci. Nat. Charente Maritime, 1972, vol. 5, pp. 168–170.

    Google Scholar 

  29. Quéro, J.C., Verron, R., and Cattin, Y., Observations ichthyologiques effectuées au port de la Rochelle en 1975, Ann. Soc. Sci. Nat. Charente Maritime, 1976, vol. 6, pp. 117–190.

    Google Scholar 

  30. Rincon, G., Vaske, T., and Gadig, O., Record of the goblin shark Mitsukurina owstoni (Chondrichthyes: Lamniformes: Mitsukurinidae) from the south-western Atlantic, Mar. Biodiv. Rec., 2012, vol. 5, article e44. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1755267211000923

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. Seabra, A.D., Catalogue systématique des Vertébrés du Portugal. V. Poissons, Bull. Soc. Portugal. Sci. Nat., 1911, vol. 53, pp. 129–224.

    Google Scholar 

  32. Uyeno, T. and Sasaki, K., Mitsukurina owstoni Jordan, 1898, in Fishes Trawled Off Suriname and French Guiana, Tokyo: Jpn. Mar. Fish. Res. Center, 1983.

    Google Scholar 

  33. Yano, K., Miya, M., Ayzawa, M., and Noichi, T., Some aspects of the biology of the goblin shark, Mitsukurina owstoni, collected from the Tokyo Submarine Canyon and adjacent waters, Japan, Ichthyol. Res., 2007, vol. 54, pp. 388–398. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10228-007-0414-2

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors of the article are deeply grateful to Matthias Stehmann (Ichthys, Hamburg, Germany) for discussing the taxonomy of M. owstoni and elucidating the fate of its holotype; A.V. Remeslo (AtlantNIRO) for photographs of a M. owstoni specimen 228 cm long caught on a fishing trip off the Mauritanian shelf in 2018, and M.V. Nazarkin (ZIN RAS) for the morphometry of a stuffed goblin shark from the waters of Japan in the collection of the ZIN RAS.

* * *

Special thanks to Artem Prokofiev (Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow), Ekaterina Vasil’eva (Zoological Museum, Biological Department, Moscow State University) and Chingiz Nigmatullin (AtlantNIRO, Kaliningrad) for the editorial assistance.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Atlantic Branch of the Russian Federal Research Institute of Fisheries and Oceanography – AtlantNIRO, Kaliningrad, Russia

    E. I. Kukuev

  2. Portuguese Center for underwater activities and Project Delfim, Portuguese Center for the state of marine mammals, Lisboa, Portugal

    F. Reiner

Authors
  1. E. I. Kukuev
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. F. Reiner
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to F. Reiner.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interests. The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Statement on the welfare of animals. All applicable international, national, and/or institutional guidelines for the care and use of animals were followed.

Additional information

Translated by S. Avodkova

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Kukuev, E.I., Reiner, F. Captures of the Goblin Shark Mitsukurina owstoni (Mitsukurinidae) off Portugal and in the Adjacent Waters with Comments on the Taxonomy and Distribution of the Species in the Waters of the Atlantic Ocean. J. Ichthyol. 62, 1293–1299 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0032945222040129

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S0032945222040129

Keywords:

Search

Navigation