Greenland Shark

The Greenland shark, called eqalussuaq by the Inuit people, is famous for living to a great age. Biologists believe that this large, slow fish can live to be half a millennium old. Its longevity probably has something to do with the fact that it does everything slowly. It swims slowly. It reproduces slowly. It catches prey by sneaking up on them when they’re asleep and then attacking.

The oldest of these animals has been around since Shakespeare, the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the French Revolution, and two World Wars, and all manner of human upheaval, and doesn’t care. It was a female, who, according to an estimation, was between 272 and 512 years old. “Slow and steady wins the race,” must be the philosophy of eqalussuaq!

4 Incredible Greenland Shark Facts

• It is often parasitized by a copepod that has an affinity for its eyes. The copepod often blinds the shark but doesn’t affect either its overall health or its ability to hunt.
• The Greenland shark isn’t ready to breed until it’s about 150 years old.
• The shark cuts chunks out of large carcasses by biting into them and rolling its jaw around.
• The female gurry shark is gravid for between 8 and 18 years before she gives birth.

Evolution And History

The Greenland shark is believed to have ancient origins, with its lineage dating back tens of millions of years, though direct fossil records are limited and do not date specifically to the Miocene epoch or 100 million years ago. It is believed they evolved from an ancestral sleeper shark found in the Arctic-Subarctic region of Canada. Sharks evolved from early jawed vertebrates that lived over 400 million years ago. These ancestors were primitive fish with cartilage skeletons and simple fins and eyes. It was from this ancient ancestor that we have the two main groups of fish found today. One of the earliest well-known sharks was Cladoselache, which lived about 380 million years ago.

Classification and Scientific Name

The Greenland shark’s scientific name is Somniosus microcephalus. Somniosus is from the Latin “somnus,” which means sleep, and microcephalus is New Latin for “tiny head.” While there is only one species of Greenland shark, they do belong to the family of sleeper sharks that includes 20 different species.

Types Of

While the Greenland shark is the only one of its kind, it does belong to a larger genus of sleeper sharks that has 20 different varieties. Some of these are:

• Pacific sleeper shark (Somniosus pacificus)
• Southern sleeper shark (Somniosus antarcticus)
• Little sleeper shark (Somniosus rostratus)
• Plunket’s shark (Scymnodon plunketi)
• Portuguese shark, or Portuguese dogfish (Centroscymnus coelolepis) 

Appearance

The Greenland shark can grow up to about 21 feet (6.4 meters) long, which is similar to the maximum length of the Great White shark. Females are bigger than males.

The shark moves very slowly, and even its rare bursts of speed only achieve about 1.6 miles per hour. It has the usual rough shark tegument that’s basically made out of teeth. Its skin ranges in color from light grey to blackish brown and sometimes shows spots or bands. The shark has a small head, small eyes, and small gill slits. The body is torpedo-shaped and has two dorsal fins and no anal fins. The Greenland shark has small pectoral fins and pelvic fins. The shark has about 100 teeth, with 48 to 52 in its upper jaw and 50 to 52 in its lower jaw.

Behavior

Greenland sharks are solitary, except during the breeding season. Sometimes a group of sharks, called a shiver or a school, will gather at a whale fall or the carcass of some other large animal. If a prey animal is small enough for the shark to eat it whole, it will come upon it, open its mouth, and simply suck it in. The gurry shark is often blinded by parasites, but does not need its vision to help it find food. It can do this by smelling food, including rotting carcasses, in the water.

Habitat

The shark is found in the North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, though it’s been seen as far south as France and the coast of the southeastern United States. It can be found near the surface of the water and at depths of over 7,000 feet.

Diet

The shark is an opportunistic carnivore and will eat just about anything it can digest. One of the more interesting facts about the gurry shark’s diet is that it’s not above scavenging for a meal. Its stomach contents have included parts of large animals such as moose and polar bears. At least one shark had managed to down a whole reindeer.

Predators And Threats

The Greenland shark is a huge animal, and though it doesn’t move fast, it is an apex predator and simply too big for other predators to handle. The exception to this, of course, is humans. Because it is overfished in places, its conservation status is vulnerable. Climate change also warms the cold waters it prefers.

What Eats The Greenland Shark?

Humans eat the Greenland shark, even though its flesh is toxic. It can be prepared in a way that makes it safe to eat.

What Does The Greenland Shark Eat?

The Greenland shark eats fish, squid, marine mammals such as seals and small whales, and carrion.

Reproduction And Life Cycle

No one has ever seen Greenland sharks mating, but females have been seen with scars from bite marks. This suggests that these sharks mate like other sharks, with the male grabbing the female with his teeth to hold her still as he fertilizes her eggs internally.

After the eggs are fertilized, they remain within the mother until they hatch. Then, the pups are born live after a gestation that can take as long as 18 years. It is believed that a female shark gives birth to 10 pups at a time, and they cannot reproduce until they are at least a century old.

Once the young are born, they are independent. Given her extremely long lifespan, a female Greenland shark can have hundreds of babies.

In Fishing And Cooking

Although its conservation status is vulnerable, about 1,000 of these sharks are still deliberately caught every year, and three and a half times that many are victims of bycatch. Humans hunt the shark for its hide and its flesh, and until recently, the rich oil in its liver. Though its flesh is toxic to humans, it can be treated in a way that leaches the toxins out of it. The dish made from this treated meat is called Hákarl.