NL·0700Herbarium of the Nature Library
- Name
- Somniosus microcephalus
- Family
- Somniosidae
- Native to
- North Atlantic and Arctic oceans, from the Gulf of Maine and North Sea to Svalbard and the Canadian Arctic
- Habitat
- Deep sea, Polar seas, Continental shelf
Greenland shark
Somniosus microcephalus
Also calledEqalussuaq (Greenlandic) · Hákarl (Icelandic, as food) · Håkjerring (Norwegian) · Sleeper shark
The longest-lived vertebrate known: radiocarbon dating of eye lenses suggests some individuals are around 400 years old. It cruises the cold Arctic depths at about walking pace.
The Greenland shark, also known as the grey shark or gurry shark, is a large shark of the family Somniosidae, closely related to the Pacific and southern sleeper sharks. Inhabiting the North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, they are notable for their exceptional longevity, although they are poorly studied because of the depth and remoteness of their natural habitat. Wikipedia
What it can do
- iEstimated lifespan of at least 272 years, possibly ~400 (Nielsen et al., Science 2016)
- iiReaches sexual maturity at roughly 150 years
- iiiCruises at about 1 km/h, one of the slowest fish swimming speeds relative to size
- ivTissue contains high levels of trimethylamine oxide (TMAO), which stabilises proteins in cold deep water
In the field
Field marks
- aMassive, cylindrical grey-brown body
- bSmall, rounded dorsal fins with no spines
- cShort, rounded snout and small eyes, often with a dangling copepod
- dNearly symmetrical tail with a weak lower lobe
- Not to be confused with
- Pacific sleeper shark (S. pacificus) is very similar but lives in the North Pacific; basking shark has huge gill slits and a tall triangular dorsal.
- Where to see it
- Rarely seen alive; Arctic Bay and Baffin Island (Canada) under-ice dives, the St. Lawrence estuary at Baie-Comeau, Bjarnarhöfn shark museum in Iceland
- When
- Year-round; nearer the surface in winter
Life & habits
- Diet
- Fish, seals, squid, carrion including drowned reindeer and polar bear remains
- Habitat
- Cold continental shelf and slope waters, 0–2,200 m; nearer the surface in Arctic winters
- Size
- Usually 2.5–5 m; up to ~7 m
- Lifespan
- Possibly 250–500 years
Many adults carry a parasitic copepod (Ommatokoita elongata) attached to the eye, which damages the cornea, yet they still hunt successfully.
Where it lives
Recorded sightings
—
geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
Native range
North Atlantic and Arctic oceans, from the Gulf of Maine and North Sea to Svalbard and the Canadian Arctic
Drag the globe to turn it. Dots are where records exist, not a range map; darker means more records.
In the stacks
Searching the stacks…
Every page naming Somniosus microcephalus in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
Marginalia
An Inuit legend tells that the shark arose from the urine-soaked cloth of the sea goddess Sedna's hair, explaining the smell of its flesh.
Curiosity
A Greenland shark that may have been born before the Mayflower sailed was still swimming when scientists sampled it in the 2010s.
Kinship
Photographs: iNaturalist contributors under the licences shown. Records: GBIF.org. Historical plates: Source Library (CC BY-SA 4.0; originals public domain). Summary text: Nature Library editors and Wikipedia (CC BY-SA). Medicinal and edibility notes are historical and educational, not advice. iNaturalist taxon 112841.