Blog: sixgill shark

As a complement to our Wild Sharks activities, biologists at the Seattle Aquarium recently conducted the latest installment of sixgill shark research in the waters just off the end of the Aquarium’s pier. The Aquarium has been conducting research on sixgill sharks since 2003. 

Bluntnose sixgill sharks, or Hexanchus griseus, are members of the cowshark family. Most sharks have five gill slits, but the aptly named sixgills have six. At a mature length of about 14 feet, they are one of the top ten largest predatory sharks of the world – and they not only live in Puget Sound, they can often be found swimming directly below the Aquarium’s pier.