Fishers off a Spanish Island Accidentally Caught a "Fossil" Shark Not Seen Alive Since 1898

Key Points:

• A 2.5-meter goblin shark was accidentally caught and released alive off Gran Canaria in January 2026, marking the first confirmed live sighting in the Canary Islands and only the second in the Macaronesian region, expanding the known range of this rare species in the Central-Eastern Atlantic.
• Goblin sharks are rarely seen, with fewer than 250 documented worldwide, and the Gran Canaria specimen was identified as a likely female subadult, fitting a pattern where juveniles are found in the eastern Atlantic while adults are more common in the western Atlantic.
• The Canary Islands provide a unique habitat for deep-sea sharks due to the cessation of bottom trawling and lack of targeted deep-water fisheries, allowing vulnerable populations to persist in an otherwise heavily fished ocean.
• Researchers highlight that most deep-sea environments around the Canary Islands remain unsurveyed, suggesting the current species inventory is incomplete and that such sightings are often the result of chance rather than systematic research.
• The discovery raises questions about the goblin shark’s distribution and life cycle, including why adults and juveniles segregate geographically and whether the eastern Atlantic serves as a nursery or feeding ground, emphasizing the species’ ongoing mystery.