The next big Shark Week debut tonight is “Greenland Shark Quest,” an episode of “Dirty Jobs with Mike Rowe.”

In this episode, Mike travels to the far north to tag along with scientists trying to study Greenland sharks below the ice.

It looks awfully cold - sounds like Mike misses last year’s trip to the Bahamas.

The Greenland Shark

The Greenland shark is the 4th largest in the world, measuring 11 to 16 feet long, and weighing 500 to 700 pounds. Apparently, their meat is poisonous and must be boiled repeatedly to be eaten - yikes.

After numerous failed attempts, they finally got one! The team seems excited, but Mike seems a bit nonplussed - maybe because Greenland shark is “like the alligator of the Arctic, known to wait just below the ice to ambush caribou.” (reindeer)

When the job gets dirty

I was wondering when this job was going to get dirty - fishing for Greenland sharks looks cold, but not too bad. Turns out, when the research really gets dirty is when one of the sharks dies on the fishing lines (don’t worry - the species is still plentiful in the region) - then the team springs into action and begins an on-site dissection.

Currently, Mike is holding, in his hand…an eyeball.

Mike and the team have cut right into the middle of the shark to get a sample of the shark’s vertebrae, and also a chunk of the muscle tissue. Apparently, Greenland sharks can live up to 400 years!

Eeew…here comes the stomach autopsy. I kid you not, Mike is currently helping this researcher pull small crustaceans (amphipods) out of the stomach as proof that something the shark ate was rotting before the shark ate it.

Yum.

And just because it’s “Dirty Jobs” tonight…

The final shark they tagged just had to poo right in front of Mike.

The Best of Shark Week

photo by Nick Caloyianis

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