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The Goblin Shark

Jaw of the goblin shark
(Dianne Bray / Museum Victoria)

The goblin shark (Mitsukurina owstoni) is one of the creepier fish out there! It has a long, prominent snout covered with special sensing organs (ampullae of Lorenzini) that help it to sense electric fields in the deep, dark water it calls home. It also has unusual coloration, ranging from pinkish to purplish grey, with bright blue around the edges of its fins. But even stranger is its jaw. Though close to the head in this picture, it can be extended to the length of its snout to help the goblin shark ambush fish, squids and crustaceans. In fact, different preserved specimens of goblin sharks were once incorrectly classified as separate species because their jaws stuck out at different lengths. See more photos of scary ocean creatures in our slideshow.