Author: Jordan, 1898
Diagnostic Features:
Trunk compressed and moderately slender, very soft and flabby. Head as long as trunk or slightly shorter; snout greatly elongated, bladelike and flattened; eyes very small; mouth large, ventral on head; gill openings short, not extending onto dorsal surface of head, all anterior to pectoral fin bases; no gillrakers on internal gill slits; teeth large, anteriors and laterals very narrow and awl-like, less than 60 rows in either jaw; three rows of large anterior teeth on each side of upper and lower jaws, the uppers separated from the upper lateral teeth by a gap without intermediate teeth. Dorsal fins small, low, and rounded, or semi-angular, equal sized and smaller than the large, rounded anal fin; second dorsal and anal fins with broad, nonpivoting bases; pectoral fins small and broad, much shorter than head in adults; pelvic fins large, larger than dorsal fins; caudal fin not lunate, upper lobe long but half length of rest of shark or less, lower lobe not developed, no precaudal pits, caudal peduncle compressed and without keels.
Remarks:
The goblin shark, Mitsukurina owstoni, was reported from off Surinam and French Guiana by Uyeno, Matsuura and Fujii (1983).