When feeding on large carcasses, the shark employs a rolling motion of its jaw. Dentition The dentition of a Greenland shark The gill openings are very small for the species' great size.Ĭoloration can range from pale creamy-gray to blackish-brown and the body is typically uniform in color, though whitish spots or faint dark streaks are occasionally seen on the back. The Greenland shark is a thickset species, with a short, rounded snout, small eyes, and very small dorsal and pectoral fins. It rivals the Pacific sleeper shark (possibly up to 7 m or 23 ft long) as the largest species in the family Somniosidae. Males are typically smaller than females. It usually grows to between 2.4 and 7 m (7.9 and 23.0 ft) long and weighs between 400 and 1,400 kg (880 and 3,090 lb). The Greenland shark is likely one of the largest living species of shark. As it lives in the cold depths of the Arctic and North Atlantic, isolated from human activity, it is not known to be a threat to humans, and no attacks have been recorded. Greenland shark flesh, treated to reduce toxin levels, is eaten in Iceland as a delicacy known as kæstur hákarl. As an adaptation to living at depth, it has a high concentration of trimethylamine N-oxide in its tissues, which causes the meat to be toxic. It is a generalist feeder, consuming a variety of available foods. The Greenland shark has the longest known lifespan of all vertebrate species (estimated to be between 250 and 500 years), and is among the largest extant species of shark. The Greenland shark is a potentially important yet poorly studied cold-water species inhabiting the North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans. The Greenland shark ( Somniosus microcephalus), also known as the gurry shark, grey shark, or by the Kalaallisut name eqalussuaq, is a large shark of the family Somniosidae ("sleeper sharks"), closely related to the Pacific and southern sleeper sharks. Scymnus micropterus ( Valenciennes, 1832).Squalus norvegianus ( Blainville, 1825).Squalus microcephalus Bloch & Schneider, 1801.
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