Goblin sharks have remained unchanged for 125 million years

Animals
Goblin sharks have remained unchanged for 125 million years

These deep-sea predators possess a protruding jaw that snaps forward like a catapult to snatch prey in the darkness of the midnight zone.

The goblin shark offers a rare glimpse into the prehistoric world, possessing a lineage that stretches back 125 million years. While most species evolve significantly over such vast timescales, these deep-sea inhabitants have remained virtually unchanged since they first appeared. This evolutionary stasis has earned them the title of living fossils, as they retain primitive features that have long since vanished in other shark lineages.

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