It looks like something from outer space , but the 'alien of the deep ' is found much closer to home . With its fleshy snout , nail-like teeth and flabby pink body it would n't look out of place in a science fiction film , but the rare sea goblin shark described as an 'alien of the deep ' has been found off Australia 's southeast coast and delivered to the Australian Museum in Sydney . The prehistoric-looking goblin sharks live on deep sea bottoms and little is known about their lives . The shark had died by the time it was handed over , but it was still a priceless asset as only four of them have been acquired by the Sydney museum - the first two collected back in the 1980s . A goblin shark with a long flattened snout covered with pores is shown at the Australian Museum . 'It 's pretty impressive , it 's not hideous it 's beautiful , ' said the Australian Museum 's fish collection manager Mark McGrouther , who described its teeth as looking like 'little daggers ' . 'They are not caught terribly often . They are not encountered terribly often at all . ' The latest was picked up by a fisherman in January . It was found near Eden , off Australia 's southeast coast , at a depth of about 200 metres and delivered in excellent condition to the museum . The Australian Museum 's fish collection manager Mark McGrouther shows the jaws of a Goblin Shark in the sorting lab in Sydney . McGrouther said he was 'thrilled ' to handle the shark , which is found in the Pacific , Atlantic and Indian oceans . The species , whose scientific name is 'Mitsukurina owstoni ' , is thought to be a living fossil dating back some 125 million years . The animal 's jaw mechanism , which shoots forward when it detects prey and then retracts under its fleshy , spade-shaped snout , was what fascinated McGrouther the most . Its fleshy snout , nail-like teeth and flabby pink body makes it stand out from the crowd . ' I suspect because it has got soft , flabby musculature , it does n't need much energy ... so it will swim slowly over the bottom just using its snout like a metal detector , ' he said . 'It will be sweeping over the bottom and when it detects a small fish , or a crab or a squid it will shoot those jaws out 'wham ' and capture whatever it is . 'It will spear it with those sharp pointed teeth and then just wolf it down whole . ' The Australian Museum shows off a goblin shark , a rare sea creature described as an 'alien of the deep ' The latest goblin shark specimen , from which tissue samples have been taken for genetic testing , will be preserved by the museum and made available for research .
The prehistoric-looking goblin sharks live on deep sea bottoms . The dead body of the shark was given to the Australian Museum . 'It 's not hideous it 's beautiful , ' says Australian Museum 's Mark McGrouther . It was only the fourth goblin shark to be given to the museum in Sydney . The first two goblin sharks were collected back in the 1980s .