Shark family is very widely and fairly well studied. Each of us knows that there are terrible predators, such as the white shark or the tiger shark. Among the sharks there are absolutely harmless species, like the giant whale shark. But the species that will be discussed now is not so well studied, but it is unique.Have you heard of a shark that can plow the icy oceans of the planet and live for over a hundred years ?!
Amazing discovery
The Greenland polar shark – Somniosus microcephalus, found off the northern shores of Europe, along the coast of Labrador and near the island of Greenland, shocked researchers.
How in these harsh cold waters could a typical tropical predator find himself? From the first meeting, scientists did not disregard the polar sharks, hoping to find out their secrets. However, there are still too many secrets.
Northern Sea Predator
The Greenland polar shark is a very large predator, with an average length of up to 7 meters and a weight per ton. Usually the length of these sharks is about four meters. Unlike most relatives, its dorsal fin is small, its sharp teeth do not reach even a centimeter in length, the color is close to the coffee one – instead of the usual gray and it can swim in water at a temperature slightly below zero.
The polar shark is always leisurely. This predator feeds on different fish, does not hesitate to crabs and jellyfish. There is also a very paradoxical fact in her biography: the favorite delicacy of sharks is fur seals. How can such a phlegmatic predator succeed in overtaking nimble and quick cats? However, this is a fact, since in the stomachs of polar sharks they often found even whole pieces of sea fur and sea lion meat.
For all its sluggishness, sharks have a huge appetite, considering that large prey was found in their stomachs more than once: a whole seal, a considerable amount of cod and salmon, a reindeer without horns and even a polar bear. Perhaps the latter was the victim during his long swim.
Polar long-liver
In 2016, a group of international researchers led by the leading specialist of the University of Copenhagen, Julius Nielsen, established that the shark caught off the coast of Greenland is more than 400 years old. After more thorough research, the exact age was set at 512 years.
Greenland sharks live under the ice of the Arctic Ocean and its coastal seas at a depth of 600 meters. These are the largest sharks in the world, they grow to 20 meters and can live several hundred years. They believe that they eat even polar bears.
Due to its cold habitat, the shark is a long-liver. Like a product in a refrigerator, it matures for a long time and becomes mature at the age of about 140 years. Trimethylamine nitrogen, produced and accumulated in the muscles of the fish, allows it to live in such cold conditions.
For humans, a shark does not pose a particular danger, but according to Inuit legends, there have been cases when kayaks overturned fish. Most likely, the predator just confused them with prey. Previously, polar sharks were mined for their large liver. Meat is not consumed without proper preparation. Very long and difficult.
