Greenland shark - wikipedia Greenland shark Greenland shark Conservation status Near Threatened ( IUCN 3.1 ) Scientific classification Kingdom : Animalia Phylum : Chordata Class : Chondrichthyes Order : Squaliformes Family : Somniosidae Genus : Somniosus Species : S. microcephalus Binomial name Somniosus microcephalus ( Bloch & J.G. Schneider, 1801 ) Range of the Greenland shark Synonyms Squalus squatina ( non Linnaeus, 1758 ) Squalus carcharis ( Gunnerus, 1776 ) Somniosus brevipinna ( Lesueur, 1818 ) Squalus borealis ( Scoresby, 1820 ) Squalus norvegianus ( Blainville, 1825 ) Scymnus gunneri ( Thienemann, 1828 ) Scymnus glacialis ( Faber, 1829 ) Scymnus micropterus ( Valenciennes, 1832 ) Leiodon echinatum ( Wood, 1846 ) The Greenland shark ( Somniosus microcephalus ), also known as the gurry shark or 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. The distribution of this species is mostly restricted to the waters of the North Atlantic Ocean and Arctic Ocean. It has the longest known lifespan of all vertebrate species ( estimated to be between 300 -- 500 years ), and is among the largest extant species of shark. 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. Greenland shark flesh treated to reduce toxin levels is eaten in Iceland as a delicacy known as kæstur hákarl. Contents 1 Description 1.1 Dentition 2 Life history 2.1 Diet 2.2 Other behavior 2.3 Longevity 2.4 Reproduction 3 Physiological adaptations 4 As food 5 Inuit legends 6 See also 7 References 8 Further reading 9 External links Description The Greenland shark is one of the largest living species of shark, with dimensions comparable to those of the great white shark. Greenland sharks grow to 6.4 m ( 21 ft ) and 1,000 kg ( 2,200 lb ), and possibly up to 7.3 m ( 24 ft ) and more than 1,400 kg ( 3,100 lb ). Most Greenland sharks observed have been around 2.44 -- 4.8 m ( 8.0 -- 15.7 ft ) long and weigh up to 400 kg ( 880 lb ). Males are typically smaller than females. It rivals the Pacific sleeper shark ( possibly up to 7 m or 23 ft long ) as the largest species in the family Somniosidae. The Greenland shark is a thickset species, with a short, rounded snout, small eyes, and very small dorsal and pectoral fins. The gill openings are very small for the species ' great size. Coloration 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. Dentition The dentition of a Greenland shark. When feeding on large carcasses, the shark employs a rolling motion of its jaw. The teeth of the upper jaw are very thin and pointed, lacking serrations. These upper jaw teeth, numbering from 48 to 52, act as an anchor while the lower jaw proceeds to cut massive chunks out of their prey for a quick and easy kill. The lower teeth are interlocking and are broad and square, 50 to 52 in count, containing short, smooth cusps that point outward. Teeth in the two halves of the lower jaw are strongly pitched in opposite directions. Life History Diet The Greenland shark is an apex predator and mostly eats fish. It has never been observed hunting. Recorded fish prey have included smaller sharks, skates, eels, herring, capelin, Arctic char, cod, rosefish, sculpins, lumpfish, wolffish, and flounder. Greenland sharks have also been found with remains of seals, polar bears, horses, moose, and reindeer ( in one case an entire reindeer body ) in their stomachs. The Greenland shark is known to be a scavenger, and is attracted by the smell of rotting meat in the water. The sharks have frequently been observed gathering around fishing boats. It also scavenges on seals. Although such a large shark could easily consume a human swimmer, the frigid waters it typically inhabits make the likelihood of attacks on humans very low, and no cases of predation on people have been verified. Other behavior As an ectotherm living in a just - above - freezing environment, the Greenland shark has the lowest swim speed and tail - beat frequency for its size across all fish species, which most likely correlates with its very slow metabolism and extreme longevity. It swims at a leisurely 1.22 km / h ( 0.76 mph ), with its fastest cruising speed only reaching 2.6 km / h ( 1.6 mph ). Because this top speed is only half that of a typical seal in their diet, biologists are uncertain how the sharks are able to prey on the faster seals. It is hypothesized that they may ambush them while they sleep. Greenland sharks migrate annually based on depth and temperature rather than distance, although some do travel. During the winter, the sharks congregate in the shallows ( up to 80 ° north ) for warmth but migrate separately in summer to the deeps or even farther south in summer. The species has been observed at a depth of 2,200 metres ( 7,200 ft ) by a submersible investigating the wreck of the SS Central America that lies about 160 miles ( 260 km ) east of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. Daily vertical migration between shallower and deeper waters has also been recorded. In August 2013, researchers from Florida State University caught the first documented Greenland shark in the Gulf of Mexico at a depth of 1,749 m ( 5,738 ft ), where the water temperature was 4.1 ° C ( 39.4 ° F ). A more typical depth for the species is above 1,200 m ( 3,900 ft ). The shark is often colonized by the mutualistic bioluminescent copepod Ommatokoita elongata, which attaches itself to the shark 's eyes and attracts prey to the shark 's head. The shark occupies what tends to be a very deep environment seeking its preferable cold water ( − 0.6 to 12 ° C or 30.9 to 53.6 ° F ) habitat. When hoisted upon deck, it beats so violently with its tail, that it is dangerous to be near it, and the seamen generally dispatch it, without much loss of time. The pieces that are cut off exhibit a contraction of their muscular fibres for some time after life is extinct. It is, therefore, extremely difficult to kill, and unsafe to trust the hand within its mouth, even when the head is cut off. And, if we are to believe Crantz, this motion is to be observed three days after, if the part is trod on or struck. -- Henry William Dewhurst, The Natural History of the Order Cetacea ( 1834 ) Longevity The Greenland shark has the longest known lifespan of all vertebrate species. One Greenland shark was tagged off Greenland in 1936 and recaptured in 1952. Its measurements suggest that Greenland sharks grow at a rate of 0.5 -- 1 cm ( 0.2 -- 0.4 in ) per year. In 2016, a study based on 28 specimens that ranged from 81 to 502 cm ( 2.7 -- 16.5 ft ) in length determined by radiocarbon dating of crystals within the lens of their eyes, that the oldest of the animals that they sampled, which also was the largest, had lived for 392 ± 120 years. The authors further concluded that the species reaches sexual maturity at about 150 years of age. Reproduction As recently as 1957, females were found not to deposit eggs in the bottom mud, but retain the developing embryos within their bodies so they are born alive after an undetermined gestation period ( a process known as ovoviviparity ). About 10 pups per litter are normal, each initially measuring some 38 -- 42 cm ( 15 -- 17 in ) in length. Physiological adaptations Like other elasmobranchii, Greenland sharks have high concentrations of the nitrogenous waste products urea and trimethylamine N - oxide ( TMAO ) in their tissues, which increases their buoyancy and function as osmoprotectants. TMAO also counteracts the protein - destabilizing tendencies of urea and of deep - water pressure. Its presence in the tissues of both elasmobranch and teleost fish has been found to increase with depth. The blood of Greenland sharks contains three major types of hemoglobin, made up of two copies of α globin combined with two copies of three very similar β subunits. These three types show very similar oxygenation and carbonylation properties, which are unaffected by urea, an important compound in marine elasmobranch physiology. They display identical electronic absorption and resonance Raman spectra, indicating that their heme - pocket structures are identical or highly similar. The hemoglobins also have a lower affinity for O2 compared to temperate sharks. These characteristics are interpreted as adaptations to living at great water depths. As Food Greenland shark meat or kæstur hákarl in Iceland The flesh of the Greenland shark is toxic because of the presence of high concentrations of trimethylamine oxide ( TMAO ). If the meat is eaten without pretreatment, the ingested TMAO is metabolized into trimethylamine, which can produce effects similar to extreme drunkenness. Occasionally, sled dogs that eat the flesh are unable to stand up because of this effect. Similar toxic effects occur with the related Pacific sleeper shark, but not in most other shark species. The meat can be treated for safe consumption by boiling in several changes of water, drying, or fermenting for several months to produce kæstur hákarl. Traditionally, this is done by burying the meat in boreal ground for 6 -- 8 weeks, which presses the TMAO out of the meat and also results in partial fermentation. The meat is then dug up and hung up in strips to dry for several more months. It is considered a delicacy in Iceland. Inuit legends The Greenland shark 's poisonous flesh has a high urea content, which gave rise to the Inuit legend of Skalugsuak, the first Greenland shark. The legend says that an old woman washed her hair in urine and dried it with a cloth. The cloth blew into the ocean to become Skalugsuak. Another legend tells of a girl whose father cut off her fingers while drowning her, with each fingers turning into a sea creature, including Skalugsuak. The Greenland shark plays a role in cosmologies of the Inuit from the Canadian Eastern Arctic and Greenland. Igloolik Inuit believe that the shark lives within the urine pot of Sedna, goddess of the sea, and consequently its flesh has a urine - like smell, and acts as a helping spirit to shamans. See also Sharks portal List of sharks References ^ Jump up to : Kyne, P.M. ; Sherrill - Mix, S.A. & Burgess, G.H. ( 2006 ). `` Somniosus microcephalus ''. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN. 2006 : e. T60213A12321694. doi : 10.2305 / IUCN. UK. 2006. RLTS. T60213A12321694. en. Retrieved 25 December 2017. Jump up ^ Yano, Kazunari ; Stevens, John D. ; Compagno, Leonard J.V. ( 2004 ). `` A review of the systematics of the sleeper shark genus Somniosus with redescriptions of Somniosus ( Somniosus ) antarcticus and Somniosus ( Rhinoscymnus ) longus ( Squaliformes : Somniosidae ) ''. Ichthyological Research. 51 ( 4 ) : 360 -- 73. doi : 10.1007 / s10228 - 004 - 0244 - 4. ^ Jump up to : Yancey, Paul H. ; Gerringer, Mackenzie E. ; Drazen, Jeffrey C. ; Rowden, Ashley A. ; Jamieson, Alan ( 2014 ). `` Marine fish may be biochemically constrained from inhabiting the deepest ocean depths ''. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 111 ( 12 ) : 4461 -- 5. Bibcode : 2014PNAS... 111.4461 Y. doi : 10.1073 / pnas. 1322003111. PMC 3970477. PMID 24591588. Jump up ^ Anthoni, Uffe ; Christophersen, Carsten ; Gram, Lone ; Nielsen, Niels H. ; Nielsen, Per ( 1991 ). `` Poisonings from flesh of the Greenland shark Somniosus microcephalus may be due to trimethylamine ''. Toxicon. 29 ( 10 ) : 1205 -- 12. doi : 10.1016 / 0041 - 0101 ( 91 ) 90193 - U. PMID 1801314. Jump up ^ Durst, Sidra ( 2012 ). `` Hákarl ''. In Deutsch, Jonathan ; Murakhver, Natalya. They Eat That ? A Cultural Encyclopedia of Weird and Exotic Food from around the World. pp. 91 -- 2. ISBN 978 - 0 - 313 - 38059 - 4. Jump up ^ Mills, Patrick ( 2006 ). Dewey, Tanya, ed. `` Somniosus microcephalus ''. Animal Diversity Web. University of Michigan. ^ Jump up to : Eagle, Dane. `` Greenland shark ''. Florida Museum of Natural History. Retrieved 26 June 2012. ^ Jump up to : Wood, Gerald ( 1983 ). The Guinness Book of Animal Facts and Feats. ISBN 978 - 0 - 85112 - 235 - 9. Jump up ^ `` Greenland Shark ''. Marinebiodiversity.ca. Centre for Marine Biodiversity. Archived from the original on 3 April 2014. Retrieved 23 May 2011. ^ Jump up to : Yong, Ed ( 11 August 2016 ). `` The Sharks That Live to 400 ''. The Atlantic. Retrieved 15 August 2016. Jump up ^ `` Moose - eating shark rescued in Newfoundland harbour ''. CBC News. 21 November 2013. Retrieved 21 November 2013. Jump up ^ Howden, Daniel ( 12 August 2008 ). `` Clash of the fiercest predators as shark eats polar bear ''. The Independent. Retrieved 26 June 2012. Jump up ^ Watanabe, Yuuki Y. ; Lydersen, Christian ; Fisk, Aaron T. ; Kovacs, Kit M. ( 2012 ). `` The slowest fish : Swim speed and tail - beat frequency of Greenland sharks ''. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology. 426 -- 427 : 5 -- 11. doi : 10.1016 / j. jembe. 2012.04. 021. Jump up ^ Scales, Helen ( June 2012 ). `` Slow Sharks Sneak Up on Sleeping Seals ( and Eat Them ) ? ''. National Geographic News. Retrieved 28 December 2012. Jump up ^ `` AMERICA 'S LOST TREASURE ''. www.sscentralamerica.com. Archived from the original on 24 November 2016. Retrieved 14 February 2017. Jump up ^ Owen, D. ( 2009 ). Shark : In peril in the sea. Allen & Unwin. Jump up ^ Grubs, Dean ( 15 August 2013 ). `` Deep - C Scientists Capture First Greenland Shark in the Gulf of Mexico ''. deep-c.org Jump up ^ Borucinska, J.D. ; Benz, G.W. ; Whiteley, H.E. ( 1998 ). `` Ocular lesions associated with attachment of the parasitic copepod Ommatokoita elongata ( Grant ) to corneas of Greenland sharks, Somniosus microcephalus ( Bloch & Schneider ) ''. Journal of Fish Diseases. 21 ( 6 ) : 415 -- 22. doi : 10.1046 / j. 1365 - 2761.1998. 00122. x. Jump up ^ Berland, Bjørn ( 1961 ). `` Copepod Ommatokoita elongata ( Grant ) in the Eyes of the Greenland Shark -- a Possible Cause of Mutual Dependence ''. Nature. 191 ( 4790 ) : 829 -- 30. Bibcode : 1961Natur. 191... 829B. doi : 10.1038 / 191829a0. Jump up ^ Henry W. Dewhurst ( 1834 ). The Natural History of the order Cetacea and the oceanic inhabitants of the arctic regions : Illustrated with numerous lithographic and wood engravings. Verf. ^ Jump up to : Nielsen, Julius ; Hedeholm, Rasmus B. ; Heinemeier, Jan ; Bushnell, Peter G. ; Christiansen, Jørgen S. ; Olsen, Jesper ; Ramsey, Christopher Bronk ; Brill, Richard W. ; Simon, Malene ; Steffensen, Kirstine F. ; Steffensen, John F. ( 2016 ). `` Eye lens radiocarbon reveals centuries of longevity in the Greenland shark ( Somniosus microcephalus ) ''. Science. 353 ( 6300 ) : 702 -- 4. doi : 10.1126 / science. aaf1703. PMID 27516602. Lay summary -- Sci News ( 12 August 2016 ). Jump up ^ Caloyianis, Nick ( September 1998 ). `` Greenland Sharks ''. National Geographic. 194 ( 3 ) : 60 -- 71. ^ Jump up to : Pennisi, Elizabeth ( 11 August 2016 ). `` Greenland Shark May Live 400 Years, Smashing Longevity Record ''. Science Magazine. Jump up ^ The Strange and Gruesome Story of the Greenland Shark, the Longest - Living Vertebrate on Earth, The New Yorker, M.R. O'Connor, November 25, 2017. Retrieved November 27, 2017. Jump up ^ Martin, R. Aidan. `` Greenland Shark ''. Retrieved 23 May 2011. Jump up ^ Withers, Philip C. ; Morrison, Garrick ; Guppy, Michael ( 1994 ). `` Buoyancy Role of Urea and TMAO in an Elasmobranch Fish, the Port Jackson Shark, Heterodontus portusjacksoni ''. Physiological Zoology. 67 ( 3 ) : 693 -- 705. doi : 10.1086 / physzool. 67.3. 30163765. JSTOR 30163765. Jump up ^ Bennion, Brian J. ; Daggett, Valerie ( 2004 ). `` Counteraction of urea - induced protein denaturation by trimethylamine N - oxide : a chemical chaperone at atomic resolution ''. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 101 ( 17 ) : 6433 -- 8. Bibcode : 2004PNAS... 101.6433 B. doi : 10.1073 / pnas. 0308633101. PMC 404062. PMID 15096583. ^ Jump up to : Yancey, Paul H. ( 2005 ). `` Organic osmolytes as compatible, metabolic and counteracting cytoprotectants in high osmolarity and other stresses ''. The Journal of Experimental Biology. 208 ( Pt 15 ) : 2819 -- 30. doi : 10.1242 / jeb. 01730. PMID 16043587. Jump up ^ Treberg, Jason R. ; Driedzic, William R. ( 2002 ). `` Elevated levels of trimethylamine oxide in deep - sea fish : evidence for synthesis and intertissue physiological importance ''. Journal of Experimental Zoology. 293 ( 1 ) : 39 -- 45. doi : 10.1002 / jez. 10109. PMID 12115917. Jump up ^ Russo, Roberta ; et al. ( 12 October 2017 ). `` The Greenland Shark Somniosus Microcephalus -- Hemoglobins and Ligand - Binding Properties ''. PLoS One. 12 ( 10 ) : 1 -- 24. doi : 10.1371 / journal. pone. 0186181. Jump up ^ `` The Greenland Shark Is A Very Odd Species Of Shark -- Shark Sider ''. Retrieved 17 August 2016. Jump up ^ `` The Greenland Shark : An Icy Mystery ''. Greenland Shark Sharkopedia Sharkopedia. Retrieved 17 August 2016. Jump up ^ Wheatley, Gale ( 20 September 2010 ). `` Iceland 's Wild Culinary Traditions : Hákarl and Brennivín ''. Jump up ^ Blumenfeld, Jenna ( 16 June 2011 ). `` My Encounter With Hákarl, The Worst Tasting Food On Earth ''. Jump up ^ `` Hákarl -- Icelandic Fermented Shark ''. Islands. Retrieved 13 August 2016. Jump up ^ O'Reilly, Lindsay ( 2004 ). `` Skalugsuak 's origins ''. Canadian Geographic. Archived from the original on 21 March 2016. Retrieved 13 August 2016. Jump up ^ `` Greenland Shark and Elasmobranch Education and Research Group ''. Greenland Shark and Elasmobranch Education and Research Group. Archived from the original on 14 October 2013. Retrieved 13 August 2016. Jump up ^ Helfman, Gene ; Burgess, George H. ( 2014 ). Sharks : The Animal Answer Guide. Johns Hopkins University Press. Jump up ^ Idrobo, Carlos Julián ( 2009 ). The Pangnirtung Inuit and the Greenland Shark ( PDF ) ( MSc Thesis ). University of Manitoba. p. 66. OCLC 855389661. Further reading MacNeil, M.A. ; McMeans, B.C. ; Hussey, N.E. ; Vecsei, P. ; Svavarsson, J. ; Kovacs, K.M. ; Lydersen, C. ; Treble, M.A. ; et al. ( 2012 ). `` Biology of the Greenland shark Somniosus microcephalus ''. Journal of Fish Biology. 80 ( 5 ) : 991 -- 1018. doi : 10.1111 / j. 1095 - 8649.2012. 03257. x. PMID 22497371. Watanabe, Yuuki Y. ; Lydersen, Christian ; Fisk, Aaron T. ; Kovacs, Kit M. ( 2012 ). `` The slowest fish : Swim speed and tail - beat frequency of Greenland sharks ''. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology. 426 -- 427 : 5 -- 11. doi : 10.1016 / j. jembe. 2012.04. 021. Lay summary -- LiveScience ( 25 June 2012 ). External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to Somniosus microcephalus. Wikispecies has information related to Somniosus microcephalus Greenland Shark and Elasmobranch Education and Research Group Canadian Museum of Nature SV Greenland Shark `` Somniosus microcephalus ''. Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved 23 January 2006. Froese, Rainer and Pauly, Daniel, eds. ( 2006 ). `` Somniosus microcephalus '' in FishBase. May 2006 version. `` Greenland Shark '' on As It Happens May 6, 2008 ; CBC Radio 1 ( WMV file ) Extant dogfish shark species Kingdom Animalia Phylum Chordata Subphylum Vertebrata Class Chondrichthyes Subclass Elasmobranchii Subdivision Selachii Centrophoridae ( Gulper sharks ) Centrophorus Needle dogfish ( C. acus ) Dwarf gulper shark ( C. atromarginatus ) Gulper shark ( C. granulosus ) Dumb gulper shark ( C. harrissoni ) Blackfin gulper shark ( C. isodon ) Lowfin gulper shark ( C. lusitanicus ) Smallfin gulper shark ( C. moluccensis ) Taiwan gulper shark ( C. niaukang ) Leafscale gulper shark ( C. squamosus ) Mosaic gulper shark ( C. tessellatus ) Little gulper shark ( C. uyato ) Deania Birdbeak dogfish ( D. calcea ) Rough longnose dogfish ( D. hystricosa ) Arrowhead dogfish ( D. profundorum ) Longsnout dogfish ( D. quadrispinosum ) Dalatiidae Euprotomicroides Taillight shark ( E. zantedeschia ) Heteroscymnoides Longnose pygmy shark ( H. marleyi ) Mollisquama Pocket shark ( M. parini ) Dalatias Kitefin shark ( D. licha ) Isistius Cookiecutter shark ( I. brasiliensis ) South China cookiecutter shark ( I. labialis ) Largetooth cookiecutter shark ( I. plutodus ) Euprotomicrus Pygmy shark ( E. bispinatus ) Squaliolus Smalleye pygmy shark ( S. aliae ) Spined pygmy shark ( S. laticaudus ) Etmopteridae Aculeola Hooktooth dogfish ( A. nigra ) Centroscyllium Highfin dogfish ( C. excelsum ) Black dogfish ( C. fabricii ) Granular dogfish ( C. granulatum ) Bareskin dogfish ( C. kamoharai ) Combtooth dogfish ( C. nigrum ) Ornate dogfish ( C. ornatum ) Whitefin dogfish ( C. ritteri ) Etmopterus ( Lantern sharks ) New Zealand lanternshark ( E. baxteri ) Blurred lanternshark ( E. bigelowi ) Shorttail lanternshark ( E. brachyurus ) Lined lanternshark ( E. bullisi ) E. burgessi Cylindrical lanternshark ( E. carteri ) Tailspot lanternshark ( E. caudistigmus ) Combtooth lanternshark ( E. decacuspidatus ) Pink lanternshark ( E. dianthus ) E. dislineatus Blackmouth lanternshark ( E. evansi ) Pygmy lanternshark ( E. fusus ) Broadbanded lanternshark ( E. gracilispinis ) Southern lanternshark ( E. granulosus ) Caribbean lanternshark ( E. hillianus ) Smalleye lantern shark ( E. litvinovi ) Blackbelly lanternshark ( E. lucifer ) Slendertail lanternshark ( E. molleri ) Dwarf lanternshark ( E. perryi ) African lanternshark ( E. polli ) Great lanternshark ( E. princeps ) False lanternshark ( E. pseudosqualiolus ) Smooth lanternshark ( E. pusillus ) Dense - scale lantern shark ( E. pycnolepis ) West Indian lanternshark ( E. robinsi ) Fringefin lanternshark ( E. schultzi ) Thorny lanternshark ( E. sentosus ) Velvet belly lantern shark ( E. spinax ) Splendid lanternshark ( E. splendidus ) Tasmanian lanternshark ( E. tasmaniensis ) Brown lanternshark ( E. unicolor ) Hawaiian lanternshark ( E. villosus ) Green lanternshark ( E. virens ) Miroscyllium Rasptooth dogfish ( M. sheikoi ) Trigonognathus Viper dogfish ( T. kabeyai ) Oxynotidae Oxynotus Prickly dogfish ( O. bruniensis ) Caribbean roughshark ( O. caribbaeus ) Angular roughshark ( O. centrina ) Japanese roughshark ( O. japonicus ) Sailfin roughshark ( O. paradoxus ) Somniosidae ( Sleeper sharks ) Centroscymnus Portuguese dogfish ( C. coelolepis ) Shortnose velvet dogfish ( C. cryptacanthus ) Roughskin dogfish ( C. owstoni ) Centroselachus Longnose velvet dogfish ( C. crepidater ) Proscymnodon Largespine velvet dogfish ( P. macracanthus ) Plunket shark ( P. plunketi ) Scymnodalatias Whitetail dogfish ( S. albicauda ) Azores dogfish ( S. garricki ) Sparsetooth dogfish ( S. oligodon ) Sherwood dogfish ( S. sherwoodi ) Scymnodon Smallmouth velvet dogfish ( S. obscurus ) Knifetooth dogfish ( S. ringens ) Somniosus Greenland shark ( S. microcephalus ) Pacific sleeper shark ( S. pacificus ) Little sleeper shark ( S. rostratus ) Zameus Japanese velvet dogfish ( Z. ichiharai ) Velvet dogfish ( Z. squamulosus ) Squalidae ( Dogfish sharks ) Cirrhigaleus Roughskin spurdog ( C. asper ) Southern mandarin dogfish ( C. australis ) Mandarin dogfish ( C. barbifer ) Squalus ( Spurdogs ) Spiny dogfish ( S. acanthias ) S. acutirostris Eastern highfin spurdog ( S. albifrons ) Western highfin spurdog ( S. altipinnis ) Longnose spurdog ( S. blainville ) S. brevirostris Bighead spurdog ( S. bucephalus ) Greeneye spurdog ( S. chloroculus ) Fatspine spurdog ( S. crassispinus ) Cuban dogfish ( S. cubensis ) Edmund 's spurdog ( S. edmundsi ) Taiwan spurdog ( S. formosus ) Eastern longnose spurdog ( S. grahami ) Northern spiny dogfish ( s. griffini ) Indonesian shortsnout spurdog ( S. hemipinnis ) Japanese spurdog ( S. japonicus ) S. lalannei Shortnose spurdog ( S. megalops ) Blacktailed spurdog ( S. melanurus ) Shortspine spurdog ( S. mitsukurii ) Indonesian greeneye spurdog ( S. montalbani ) Western longnose spurdog ( S. nasutus ) Bartail spurdog ( S. notocaudatus ) Western longnose spurdog ( S. nasutus ) Cyrano spurdog ( S. rancureli ) Kermadec spiny dogfish ( S. raoulensis ) Spotted spiny dogfish ( S. suckleyi ) Taxon identifiers Wd : Q370444 ADW : Somniosus_microcephalus ARKive : somniosus - microcephalus EoL : 205932 FishBase : 138 GBIF : 2421162 iNaturalist : 112841 IRMNG : 10849944 ITIS : 160611 IUCN : 60213 NCBI : 191813 WoRMS : 105919 Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Greenland_shark&oldid=843389376 '' Categories : IUCN Red List near threatened species Somniosus Fish of the Arctic Ocean Fish of the North Atlantic Fish of Greenland Ovoviviparous fish Species endangered by use as food Greenlandic cuisine Fish described in 1801 Hidden categories : Wikipedia articles needing page number citations from June 2012 All articles with self - published sources Articles with self - published sources from August 2016 All articles with dead external links Articles with dead external links from January 2018 Articles with permanently dead external links Use dmy dates from December 2016 Articles with ' species ' microformats Talk Contents About Wikipedia Wikispecies تۆرکجه Български Català Čeština Cymraeg Dansk Deutsch Ελληνικά Español Esperanto Euskara فارسی Français Galego 한국어 Hrvatski Bahasa Indonesia Íslenska Italiano עברית Kalaallisut Magyar Македонски Bahasa Melayu Nederlands 日本 語 Norsk Norsk nynorsk Polski Português Română Русский Slovenčina Српски / srpski Srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски Suomi Svenska தமிழ் ไทย Türkçe Українська Tiếng Việt 粵語 中文 36 more Edit links This page was last edited on 28 May 2018, at 20 : 50. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution - ShareAlike License ; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia ® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization. About Wikipedia

Question: what kind of sharks live in the arctic
Answer: Greenland shark (Somniosus microcephalus), also known as the gurry shark or grey shark, or by the Kalaallisut name eqalussuaq