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While shark teeth tend to get a lot of attention, it’s the teeth on their skin that you should brush up on! Shark skin is covered in tiny, flat pointed scales that are called dermal denticles—which literally means skin teeth. If you look at a shark’s skin under a microscope, you’ll see that the scales are a series of overlapping teeth that result in a rough texture.
These pointed scales reduce drag on sharks as they swim, making them stealthy and fast as they cut through the water. This jagged texture also keeps fouling animals (like barnacles) from being able to settle on their bodies and slow them down, which is helpful when you’re a speedy top predator.
TLDR: sharks are covered in tiny teeth and this makes them better swimmers. How’s that for a tantalizingly toothsome fact?
My full entry for this year's @swimonzine, featuring the lovely whale shark! Thanks again for having me, and thanks to everyone who purchases a copy for helping save sharks around the globe!
goblin sharks mature at approximately 16 years old and can live up to 60 years.
goblin sharks are named for their likeness to mythical goblins that appear in Japanese folklore.
goblin sharks have wrinkled, translucent skin, and through this, it's their blood that gives them a murky, pink or purplish-grey tinge. (THEY. ARE. PINK. 😨😨)
goblin sharks are a rare species of deep-sea shark. sometimes called a "living fossil", it is the only extant representative of the family mitsukurinidae, a lineage some 125 million years old. mitsukurina owstoni, the living goblin shark, or elfin shark, is a very rare shark to catch.