Greenland Shark Essay

The Greenland Shark, also known as the grey shark, is the largest species of shark that lies in the North Atlantic Ocean near Canada, Greenland, Norway and Iceland (Wikipedia Contributors). The grey shark lives further north than any other shark; on rare occasions these sharks have been found as far south as the Gulf of Mexico (Wikipedia Contributors). Greenland sharks are the only species that consistently live in these arctic and sub-arctic temperature waters (Rogers). Other than being one of the slower swimming sharks, it is also at the top of the food chain eating mostly fish, whale and narwhal carcass, smaller sharks and seals (Wikipedia Contributors). They hunt for food in complete darkness using only their sense of smell. Despite being on the top of their food change, they are second to humans. In the past, these sharks were hunted for their livers in Greenland, Norway and Iceland (Rogers). While their meat is edible, it is not a common delicacy anymore for a few reasons. The first reason is an obvious one, they are in sub-arctic waters and difficult to catch; they tend to stay deep in the ocean opposed to the surface (Rogers). Another reason is that their meat is poisonous due to the toxin trimethylamine oxide and the content of urea …show more content…
Once all the fluids are removed, the dish Hakarl is created (Wikipedia Contributors). Hakarl is a traditional Icelandic food served in midwinter (Wikipedia Contributors). It said to be an acquired taste since it smells like ammonia, despite that it is readily available in stores and is eaten year round (Wikipedia Contributors). Even though the dish is associated with hardiness and strength, and favored for those reasons, the smell is so repulsive that those who eat it normally take a drink beforehand (Wikipedia