Scientists probe odd Greenland sharks

Dartmouth, Nova Scotia -- Canadian scientists are waging a research campaign on Greenland sharks, which are almost opposite of any other shark and described as "very, very strange."

Steve Campana of the Bedford Institute of Oceanography in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, and Aaron Fisk of the University of Windsor, Ontario, traveled to the Arctic in April to tag and release the sharks, the Ottawa Citizen reported.
Among the few things known about the Greenland shark is that it has almost no spine, is slow-moving and lethargic and its mouth is far under its body, Campana said. Researchers learned from local Inuit aboriginal people its meat is poisonous, the report said.

"These are very, very strange sharks," Campana said. "They are really the antithesis to the fast-swimming great white and mako (sharks)."

He said they can grow to 30 feet in length, and also have hundreds of razor-sharp teeth as seen when researchers found dead sharks and opened their stomachs.

"Every single one was jam-packed with food. A lot of it was large fish" but he said there were also baby seals.

Copyright 2008 by United Press International.