Greenland shark
From Biocrawler, the free encyclopedia.
| Greenland shark Conservation status: Unknown | ||||||||||||||
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| Binomial name | ||||||||||||||
| Somniosus microcephalus , |
The Greenland shark (Somniosus microcephalus), also known as Sleeper shark, Gurry shark, Ground shark or Gray shark, lives in the waters of the North Atlantic Ocean around Greenland and Iceland in depths to 2000 meters.
It might be also referred to as Squalus squatina (non Linnaeus, 1758), Squalus carcharis (Gunnerus, 1776), Squalus microcephalus (Bloch & Schneider, 1801), Somniosus brevipinna (Lesueur, 1818), Squalus borealis (Scoresby, 1820), Squalus norvegianus (Blainville, 1825), Scymnus gunneri (Thienemann, 1828), Scymnus glacialis (Faber, 1829), Scymnus micropterus (Valenciennes, 1832), Leiodon echinatum (Wood, 1846), and Somniosus antarcticus (Whitley, 1939).
Greenland sharks may reach a size of 6 meters and feed mainly on fish and sometimes on mammals like seals. A few Greenland sharks have even been found to contain reindeer, parts of a horse and parts of a polar bear.
This shark suffers from a parasite called a copepod (Ommatokoita elongata) that attaches itself to the cornea of the eye and may lead partial blindness of the shark. The copepod is a whitish-yellow creature that is said to be bioluminescent and is attracting prey for the shark.
Although the flesh is poisoneous is can be eaten if it is dried or rotten for some month and is considered as a delicatesse in Iceland and Greenland.
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