The Greenland shark – the world's longest-living vertebrate – is most often associated with cold Arctic waters.
The Greenland shark – the world's longest-living vertebrate – is most often associated with cold Arctic waters. However, a new international study led by researchers from the Greenland Institute of Natural Resources and the University of Copenhagen shows that Skagerrak probably serves as a nursery area for young Greenland sharks. The study also points out that Greenland sharks are not born in Greenland or anywhere else in the Arctic.
It can live for several centuries and, measuring at least 5.5 meters from snout to tail tip, is one of the world's largest carnivorous sharks. The Greenland shark is usually associated with the cold deep waters of the Arctic, where it lives a slow life shrouded in mystery, with a white worm-like parasite dangling from each eye.
A new study led by researchers from the Greenland Institute of Natural Resources and the Natural History Museum of Denmark presents important new pieces of the puzzle surrounding the mysterious life of the Greenland shark. Among other things, the study shows that the Greenland shark is found much closer to Denmark than most people imagine.
Read More: University of Copenhagen
Image: Greenland shark from NW approx. 2.5 m caught and released from the Greenland Institute of Natural Resources' research vessel RV Sanna in the area around Uummannaq, NW Greenland (photo: Julius Nielsen)
