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Greenland Shark

Are Greenland sharks the oldest shark in the world? Maybe! Not much is known about their lifespan, but it’s suggested these sharks can live well over 100 years. 

 

Greenland sharks (also known as sleeper sharks) span the temperate North Atlantic to the Arctic Ocean, but their ability to handle extreme cold and deep-sea habitats means they could potentially be found all around the world in deep oceans. These sluggish, solitary creatures spend most of their time near the seafloor searching for food.  

While their diet consists mostly of various fish species, they have also been found to eat seals, small whales, and even drowned land animals like horses and reindeer!  

 

 

Due to the large size of Greenland sharks (adults can reach lengths up to 6 meters (20 feet), they have no natural known predators. However, they do face a number of human-made threats.  

Historically hunted for their liver oil, this practice peaked and largely ended between 1940-1960s with the development of synthetic oils. Since then, their main threats consist of bycatch from industrial trawl, longline, and gillnet fisheries in the Arctic Ocean, Canada, and Northern United States. The Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization (NAFO) prohibited direct fishing of Greenland sharks and set regulations to release them when caught alive.  

But even with these regulations in place, the potential for injury and death as a result of bycatch persists as target southern species invade the warming arctic waters.  

 

 

Oceana campaigns to protect species like Greenland sharks by reducing bycatch and promoting responsible fishing. Learn more about these campaigns as well as Oceana’s campaign to tackle the climate crisis by ending the expansion of new offshore oil and gas drilling. 

 

 

 

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