Why it Sucks To Be Born As a Goblin Shark

for months you grew inside your mother surrounded by your siblings at first there were many of you but now only a few remain because not all of you were meant to survive inside the womb you didn't just grow you fed not on your mother but on unfertilized eggs produced just for you some of your siblings weren't as lucky the strongest grew and the weaker ones didn't now you are ready the walls around you contract pushing you forward and suddenly the warmth of the womb is gone water rushes against your skin filling the space around you

there is no mother waiting for you no siblings to stay by your side the moment you entered this world you became just another Predator in the deep and right now you're a small one something moves nearby a flicker of movement just outside your vision you don't see it but you feel it tiny electric pulses flicker in the water they are barely noticeable but your snout Picks Them Up this is going to be your first hunt you slowly move toward the signal because your body isn't Built For Speed you actually don't need speed you just need

to get close then you strike your jaw launches forward far beyond your mouth and your teeth snap shut around something that moves for a second before going still you pull your jaw back swallowing your first meal hole you don't think about what it was a fish a crustacean maybe even another goblin shark born just seconds too late and now for the first time you flick your tail and push yourself forward there is no place to hide here so you sink lower disappearing into the dark it has been a few weeks since you were born and

you are getting better at surviving in the dark the deep is quiet but it is never empty you are small and easy to miss which is exactly how you survive you don't move much instead you let the ocean carry you your body floats easily because of the thick oil inside your liver the less energy you waste the better then something moves a dim shape flickers in and out of you you don't react right away you let your snout do the work faint electric signals pulse through the water too steady to be a struggling fish and

too slow to be prey you drift closer until the shape becomes clear it looks strange its body is dark but its head is completely clear it's a barel ey fish through the glassy Dome of its skull its green eyes shine like dim lights it doesn't swim like other fish instead it floats in place with its eyes locked on something above you don't know what it's watching and you don't care you're more focused about how you're going to eat it you move a little closer waiting to see if it reacts but before you can get near

it moves its fins tilt slightly and in one smooth motion it swims away disappearing into the dark you hesitate for a moment wondering if you should follow but there's no point because you're not fast enough you stay where you are letting the moment pass but the encounter stays in your mind you are not alone down here now you are a few months old stronger than before but still small enough to be a Target you are getting better at hunting but you still have a lot to learn the deep sea is full of creatures that don't

move much and that suits you just fine drifting near the seafloor you sense something ahead it's small barely moving and hidden in the sand you move closer carefully trying to keep your body still when you are close enough you strike your jaws shoot forward snapping at the spot where the signals are strongest but the moment your teeth touch the sand something happens a sudden shock runs through your body a painful jolt that makes your muscle stiffen the sand bursts apart and before before you can react the creature shoots away in a cloud of dirt and

debris you stay frozen for a moment trying to understand what just happened the signals are gone whatever was there escaped it wasn't just any fish it was a stargazer a predator that buries itself in the sand and waits for prey to get too close you thought you were the hunter but instead you walked right into its trap and the shock that wasn't an accident stargazers can produce electricity to stun their enemies you shake off the feeling and move away embarrassed though no one is watching this time you were too confident you won't make the same

mistake again at 6 months old you're starting to see things that make no sense the deep sea is dark but sometimes something breaks the darkness light faint and distant glowing in the water like a signal you don't see light often and when you do it means one of two things food or danger drifting in the Open Water you notice something ahead a soft blue glow pulsing slowly in the distance it is too smooth to be another fish it doesn't move like prey you don't know what it is but you are curious you move closer careful

not to get too close too quick the glow becomes clearer it's not a fish it's something much bigger it is a deep sea jellyfish you stop and watch you have never seen anything like it before then without warning the glow changes it flares bright then bursts outward in a wave of pulsing light you don't wait to find out what it means you move back just in time to see long nearly invisible tentacles stretch toward the space where you just were you don't need to get any closer to know what would have happened if you had

stayed the light Fades again going back to the soft steady pulse it had before the jellyfish continues floating waiting for something else to come tooo close you turn and drift away leaving it behind you don't know if it was hunting or just trying to defend itself you are now a year old you have learned what to Chase and what to avoid but today you learn something new how to steal after some time swimming around a smell reaches you it's faint at first but it gets stronger as you move forward you follow it letting the current

guide you until a shape begins to form ahead it is larger than anything you have ever seen before the closer you get the more you understand it is a whale or at least what is of one its body is slowly sinking while chunks of Flesh are torn Away by creatures that found it before you you're not alone small scavengers pick at the softest Parts tiny Crustaceans swarm over the decaying skin and farther up a sleeper shark drifts just above the carcass waiting for its turn you move closer and open your jaws testing the flesh with

a careful bite it is different from what you are used to but it's food and in the deep sea food is never guaranteed then the sleeper shark moves it was watching and waiting to see if you would get too close now it's swimming forward Ward cutting off your path to the carcass it's larger and much stronger than you you have no choice this time this is not your meal you back away while keeping your movements very very slow the shark luckily doesn't follow you you turn and swim back into the Open Water you've learned that

not every meal is yours to take and in the Deep some fights are just not worth having at 2 years old you are big enough to hunt larger prey but sometimes even the best hunters make mistakes something moves ahead drifting slowly in the water it's small and doesn't react when you get closer it looks like a jelly fish the kind that floats near the surface waiting for prey to wander Too Close you've seen them before and know to be careful your snout picks up no electric signals that should be a warning but you don't think

about it you are hungry and it looks like easy food so you decide to eat it your jaws snap forward closing around the strange object but the moment you bite down you know something is wrong it doesn't tear apart like flesh it doesn't taste like anything at all it folds under the pressure of your bite then floats back into shape as you let go it's not food you don't know what it is but it does not belong here you leave it behind confused there is no time to think about things that do not matter you

need real food and whatever that was it was not alive far above you at the surface there are more of these strange objects they float in the waves and sink slowly into the deep you will never know where they come from but one day when your instincts fail you just for a second you might bite the wrong thing again and not be able to spit it out you are 5 years old now no longer small and fragile but in the deep ocean size doesn't make you safe the ocean is quiet but today something feels different

You are not alone you sense movement nearby slow and steady it's way too large to be ordinary prey the signals are faint but familiar it's another shark not just any shark but another goblin shark you have never seen another of your kind before you do not live in groups you do not hunt together you do not need each other but still you follow it the other shark is bigger than you older and more experienced it does not react to you and doesn't change its course it moves forward without hesitation ignoring everything around it you stay

behind just watching and learning for a while it feels like you are going the same way like you are connected by some unspoken rule then without warning the other shark changes course it moves faster cutting through the water with a purpose you do not understand you try to keep up but it is too fast too sure of where it is going you fall behind your body not strong enough to match its movements and then just like that it's gone the darkness swallows it whole and you are alone again you wait wondering if it will come

back but nothing moves the deep is silent once more you do not know why it left but for the first time you understand that there are others like you somewhere out there in the dark moving through the deep and living their own lives you may never see another goblin shark again or maybe one day when you are older stronger and larger another will find you and this time you will be the one who disappears first you stay in place a little longer scanning the darkness but there is nothing left the ocean has swallowed the other

shark as if it were never there still you hesitate you have followed the same currents drifted through the same Waters but now it is gone was it hunting fleeing searching for something you do not know a part of you wonders if it ever noticed you at all you push forward again but something feels different for the first time the deep does not feel entirely empty the thought lingers there are others maybe watching maybe passing just Out Of Reach maybe drifting along the same unseen path but the deep does not bring answers it only brings more

Dark Water ahead stretching forever so you move forward alone once more never knowing if your kind will find you again you are 20 years old now a lifetime spent in the dark the Deep hasn't changed but you have you're just not as fast and agile as you were before but still you hunt and try your best to survive then something changes a strange vibration pulses through the water it's not a fish not a predator not anything you recognize before you can react something wraps around you a sudden crushing Force pulls you upward you twist try

to fight but it's useless the water thins the pressure weakens you are being dragged somewhere you were never meant to go then light it burns the cold vanishes your body feels heavier your gills no longer pull in water you thrash once then again but it doesn't matter the Deep doesn't care that you lived it only cares that everything here has a limit and now you've reached yours the year is 1898 and a strange shark is hauled onto a fishing boat in sagami bay Japan ship Master Alan oston looks at the pale lifeless creature with its

Jagged teeth and two long snout he hands it over to a Japanese Professor who brings it to David star Jordan an American ichthyologist they study it fascinated it's something new something never seen before you're the first goblin shark ever discovered for them it's a breakthrough for you it's the end Life as a goblin shark might be rough but there's another animal out there that has it way worse trust me it's wild check out the video and see for yourself