did goblin sharks evolve too? if they did, do they use sunglasses/sunscreen a lot because they tend to inhabit deeper seas.
I've long wanted to explore the sharks of the deep!
Yes, the goblin sharks have also developed their own culture, but unlike the euphotic sharks, they and other abyssal shark species have never left the aphotic zone. They have remained where the light never reaches, becoming guardians of the abyss. Thus, they became known as the Aphoteans.
The Aphoteans are just one of many aphotic sharks who have followed a unique adaptive path: they have developed arms, but never legs. Like the Halui, the Rayfolk, they became creatures of the eternal waters, a kind of “merfolk” of the abyssal shadows. It is believed that the reason they never emerged beyond the surface of the sea lies in the very nature of their bodies, shaped by the crushing pressure of the depths, they simply couldn't resist the absence of this invisible burden as they rose to shallower waters.
Having never left the depths, the Aphoteans have also remained unchanged in one singular aspect: their gill count. While surface sharks have followed an evolutionary path that has reduced and refined their gill slits to just three, making them more efficient, the inhabitants of the abyss have remained as they were since ancient times.
For the euphotic sharks, the existence of the Aphoteans is an enigma. Almost nothing is known about their culture and civilization, except for scattered legends and ancient tales, records of ephemeral contacts over the centuries. Most knowledge about them comes from their artifacts and the ruins of their stranded citadels, pushed closer to the surface by earthquakes and submarine eruptions millennia ago.
If the modern technology of the Sharkfolk is still in its infancy for the Halui, who have never left the ocean, for the Aphoteans this kind of innovation is nothing more than a strange dream. Some believe that their civilization has remained stagnant in time, anchored in immutable traditions. But perhaps we are underestimating them.
Ancient libraries speak of long-forgotten mystical knowledge kept by the Aphoteans in the depths of the abyss. It is said that they hold secrets about the mysteries the origin of the ocean and Mangoroa, the Cosmic Shark, and that they play a key role in the infrastructure of the hidden society of the Fathom Ones, the benevolent titans who inhabit the depths of the "Ocean Dreams", a domain not yet known.
Even though sharks have triumphed as the true guardians of the ocean, the depths still whisper unfathomable secrets ~ 🌊✨
Thanks a lot for your question, it helped me get inspired! ✨