Spined pygmy shark
Squaliolus laticaudus
Size, compared with you
You: 1.7 m. Spined pygmy shark: 25 cm.
Pocket-sized. Grows up to about 25 cm.
The spined pygmy shark is one of the smallest sharks in the world, with adults only about 25 centimetres long at most. It lives in deep ocean waters and hunts small fish and squid.
The weird bit
Like its prey, the spined pygmy shark travels up and down the water each day, going to about 500 metres deep by day and up to about 200 metres at night.
Quick facts
- Where it lives
- Deep sea, Open ocean200 to 1,200 m down
- What it eats
- Small deep-sea fish and squid
- How worried are we?
- Doing okay (Least Concern)Assessed in 2019 by the IUCN Red List.