The goblin shark is the only surviving member of the Mitsukurinidae family, a lineage that diverged from other sharks approximately 125 million years ago.

In 1898, a nearly 3-meter-long specimen with translucent pink skin and a bladelike snout, later identified as a goblin shark, was caught off Yokohama, Japan.

High-speed footage captured by Japanese researchers in 2008 revealed the goblin shark's jaw projection occurs in approximately one-tenth of a second, faster than any other documented vertebrate jaw mechanism.

Goblin shark ancestors survived the asteroid impact 66 million years ago and every subsequent climate catastrophe and mass extinction.