Jinzo X's video: Greenland Shark - The Deep Sea Shark Documentary

Whatever wonders you may have come across in aquariums is nothing compared to the amazing creatures living within our oceans. Large in size , the Greenland shark has one of the most distinctive features of any shark. The teeth in the lower jaw are specially evolved for tearing off huge chunks of meat whenever it attacks prey, while the teeth in the upper jaw hold large prey while it is eating. An amazing fact about the Greenland shark is that it is the longest-living vertebrae known to mankind. Capable of living for several centuries, you would be surprised to find out how old they get before attaining sexual maturity. Coming across one is very rare, just as footages of these submarine-shaped sharks are equally rare. While the most matured Greenland sharks have poor vision due to an eye parasite, they nonetheless navigate their frigid habitats easily and gracefully. Comparable to the great white shark in size and weight, a Greenland shark is about as big as the great white. Both can reach up to 23 feet (or 7 meters) in length and about 2 tons in weight. Greenland sharks have a peculiar habitat. They prefer to live in highly frigid waters. In fact, the colder the water, the merrier the Greenland shark! They prefer migrating to the ocean's coldest regions at any given time in waters with freezing temperatures. Despite their freezing environment, Greenland sharks can regulate their temperature and not freeze to death due to a chemical substance within the skin that acts as an anti-freeze. This same chemical compound makes the meat poisonous for consumption, unless it passes through a special preparatory method we’ll discuss later in this video. The only places Greenies can obtain temperatures as cold as it wants are the Arctic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, and the Russian High Arctic. A fun fact: Greenland sharks are the only sharks known to be able to live in the freezing Arctic water all year round! It can be found specifically in areas like the Baffin Bay eastward to places like the Barents Sea while progressing southward to the North Sea and the waters adjacent to the United States Eastern Seaboard. In these places, Greenies are comfortable living at depths of up to 2 km (or about 7,200 feet) , although they would, on rare occasions, come to the surface of the ocean. The Greenland shark is the longest-living vertebrate in the whole world! Its lifespan is more than twice the age of the longest-living terrestrial animal – the giant tortoise! It achieves this feat through its slow and steady lifestyle. Some Greenland sharks live well over 400 if not 500 years! Through cutting-edge radiocarbon dating of the layers in the tissues of its eyes, it has been established that Greenies usually live between 200 and 500 years! Interestingly, they live to be 150 years old before attaining sexual maturity. With the possibility of living more than half a millennium, what do Greenland sharks eat during all that time while growing? Like most other sharks, the Greenland shark is a predator – an apex predator at that! As such, it would often feed on a variety of marine creatures. It is known to eat fish such as capelin, lumpfish, halibut, herring, salmon, and other fishes. They also eat sea lions, cetaceans, the carcass of the beluga whale, squids, and whatever else with flesh they can bite into. Its favorite prey, however, seems to be seals. Given the rarity and difficulty in studying these sharks due to their deep, dark, cold habitat, there is yet to be any tangible evidence that can affirm its natural predator, if any. Suspected natural predators however might be the sperm whale and the orca. However, there is another known predator that loves the Greenland shark. And that is none other than humans. In Iceland for example, the Greenland shark is considered a delicacy. But, before it could become a tasty treat, it must first of all… become rotten! To get rid of the toxins in this shark's flesh, Icelanders leave the meat to ferment and then hang to dry for at least five months! Greenland sharks are listed by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as “near threatened” to extinction. There is no proven record or validated report of a Greenland shark ever attacking or causing the death of humans. But, theoretically speaking, they could easily cause the death of a human given their size and teeth. Greenland sharks are incredibly unique among all species of sharks known to mankind. Apart from its unique frigid habitat and exceptionally long lifespan, the toxic meat of this shark could leave a person “shark-drunk” if not properly processed. More research needs to be done however, to understand how they get t Narrator: Larry G. Jones