A Greenland shark

    My father and my uncle accidentally caught a shark on their lines yesterday. It had somehow managed to tangle itself on the line. I forget what kind of shark this is, but this is the only kind that lives in cold waters. Unfortunately I was in a real hurry, and only shot these three snapshots.
    These kids are from a nearby kindergarden who were lucky enough to get to see the monstrosity.
    Length: 4,8 meters
    Weight: 800 kg.

    Featured in an icelandic newspaper called "Fréttablaðið" :)

    Comments and faves

    1. Jeff Croft (62 months ago | reply)

      I believe that would be a Greenland shark. A pretty rare sight, indeed!

    2. fridgeirsson and Örlygur Hnefill added this photo to their favorites.

    3. Sindri Svan (61 months ago | reply)

      Thanks for the info jcroft! :)

    4. joshua carlsen (60 months ago | reply)

      Wow, that's a surreal shot there...

    5. eckligt (54 months ago | reply)

      Strange that's called Hákarl in Icelandic and Håkjerring (Hå-wife) in Norwegian.

      Anyway, what a great catch! I think your fish is roughly the same size as the record for this species in this country, so it's a huge specimen.

    6. Sindri Svan (53 months ago | reply)

      Eckligt: really!? We had NO idea! To think, it was just tangled in our small boat fishing lines. They couldn't even get it aboard the boat!.

    7. Sapphiren (51 months ago | reply)

      Beautiful animal, a shame that it was killed but it was, as you say, by accident. Did you know that they grow by about a centimetre a year, so this individual you've photographed here was probably well over 100 years old.

    8. sigfus.sigmundsson (48 months ago | reply)

      Hi, I'm an admin for a group called Exploring Iceland, and we'd love to have this added to the group!

    9. bladerunner2012 (34 months ago | reply)

      massive shark, great shot.

    10. grubbs62 (19 months ago | reply)

      That is the Greenland Shark, and judging by the relative dimensions given in the photo, it is a fairly large specimen. The Great White Shark, which also inhabits cold waters as far north as the arctic and as far south as the antarctic. Great White Sharks, have a built in heating system, for lack of better words, the Great White Shark, actually heats its blood from 10-20 degrees F.

    11. Stealth-Fox (11 months ago | reply)

      Greenland shark, these sharks are so creepy, watch the seal ripper. Very strange sharks, some live to 200. Great shot though :D x

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