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19 days ago
A massive shark just showed up somewhere scientists never expected to find one: Watch the video
Summary
An ungainly barrel of a shark cruising languidly over a seabed far too deep for the sun’s rays to illuminate was an unexpected sight.
Many experts had thought sharks didn’t exist in the frigid waters of Antarctica before this sleeper shark lumbered warily and briefly into the spotlight of a video camera, researcher Alan Jamieson said this week.
The shark, which was filmed in January 2025, was a substantial specimen with an estimated length of between 3 and 4 meters (10 and 13 feet).
The camera operated by the Minderoo-UWA Deep-Sea Research Centre, which investigates life in the deepest parts of the world’s oceans, was positioned off the South Shetland Islands near the Antarctic Peninsula.
That is well inside the boundaries of the Antarctic Ocean, also known as the Southern Ocean, which is defined as below the 60-degree south latitude line.
The center on Wednesday gave The Associated Press permission to publish the images.
The shark was 490 meters (1,608 feet) deep where the water temperature was a near-freezing 1.27 degrees Celsius (34.29 degrees Fahrenheit).
A skate appears in frame motionless on the seabed and seemingly unperturbed by the passing shark.
The skate, a shark-relative that looks like a stingray, was no surprise since scientists already knew their range extended that far south.
Jamieson, who is the founding director of the University of Western Australia-based research center, said he could find no record of another shark found in the Antarctic Ocean.
Peter Kyne, a Charles Darwin University conservation biologist independent of the research center, agreed that a shark had never before been recorded so far south.
Climate change and warming oceans could potentially be driving sharks to the Southern Hemisphere’s colder waters, but there was limited data on range changes near Antarctica because of the region’s remoteness, Kyne said.
The slow-moving sleeper sharks could have long been in Antarctica without anyone noticing, he said.
The sleeper shark population in the Antarctic Ocean was likely sparse and difficult for humans to detect, Jamieson said.
The shark maintained that depth because that was the warmest layer of several water layers stacked upon each other to the surface, Jamieson said.
The Antarctic Ocean is heavily layered, or stratified, to a depth of around 1,000 meters (3,280 feet) because of conflicting properties including colder, denser water from below not readily mixing with fresh water running off melting ice from above.
Jamieson expects other Antarctic sharks live at the same depth, feeding on the carcasses of whales, giant squids and other marine creatures that die and sink to the bottom.
There are few research cameras positioned at that specific depth in Antarctic waters.
Those that are can only operate during the Southern Hemisphere summer months, from December through February.
Read the original article on oregonlive.com. Add oregonlive.com as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
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Many experts had thought sharks didn’t exist in the frigid waters of Antarctica before this sleeper shark lumbered warily and briefly into the spotlight of a video camera, researcher Alan Jamieson said this week.
The shark, which was filmed in January 2025, was a substantial specimen with an estimated length of between 3 and 4 meters (10 and 13 feet).
The camera operated by the Minderoo-UWA Deep-Sea Research Centre, which investigates life in the deepest parts of the world’s oceans, was positioned off the South Shetland Islands near the Antarctic Peninsula.
That is well inside the boundaries of the Antarctic Ocean, also known as the Southern Ocean, which is defined as below the 60-degree south latitude line.
The center on Wednesday gave The Associated Press permission to publish the images.
The shark was 490 meters (1,608 feet) deep where the water temperature was a near-freezing 1.27 degrees Celsius (34.29 degrees Fahrenheit).
A skate appears in frame motionless on the seabed and seemingly unperturbed by the passing shark.
The skate, a shark-relative that looks like a stingray, was no surprise since scientists already knew their range extended that far south.
Jamieson, who is the founding director of the University of Western Australia-based research center, said he could find no record of another shark found in the Antarctic Ocean.
Peter Kyne, a Charles Darwin University conservation biologist independent of the research center, agreed that a shark had never before been recorded so far south.
Climate change and warming oceans could potentially be driving sharks to the Southern Hemisphere’s colder waters, but there was limited data on range changes near Antarctica because of the region’s remoteness, Kyne said.
The slow-moving sleeper sharks could have long been in Antarctica without anyone noticing, he said.
The sleeper shark population in the Antarctic Ocean was likely sparse and difficult for humans to detect, Jamieson said.
The shark maintained that depth because that was the warmest layer of several water layers stacked upon each other to the surface, Jamieson said.
The Antarctic Ocean is heavily layered, or stratified, to a depth of around 1,000 meters (3,280 feet) because of conflicting properties including colder, denser water from below not readily mixing with fresh water running off melting ice from above.
Jamieson expects other Antarctic sharks live at the same depth, feeding on the carcasses of whales, giant squids and other marine creatures that die and sink to the bottom.
There are few research cameras positioned at that specific depth in Antarctic waters.
Those that are can only operate during the Southern Hemisphere summer months, from December through February.
Read the original article on oregonlive.com. Add oregonlive.com as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Stop paying a monthly fee for cameras that work just as well as their "cloud" counterparts.
Bypass all the ads with a subscription to YouTube Premium — here's how to get a great deal on the service.
Retail therapy in the (virtual) bag: Get a No. 1 bestselling ski jacket for $50 and outdoor faucet 'socks' for their lowest price ever.
Bain's arms measured shorter than most NFL teams prefer from edge rushers.
Oregon State made the Elite Eight as a No. 12 seed in 2021.
The buzzy lifestyle brand is bringing its joyful colors and prints to the masses, and we've got your sneak peek.
The Yahoo Fantasy Forecast discusses whether or not QB Kyler Murray can find new life for fantasy in Minnesota.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio says U.S. officials are investigating the "highly unusual" incident involving a vessel the Cuban government says was registered in Florida.
Richardson has started 15 games across three seasons in Indianapolis.
Clark and Gu are two of the most influential athletes in women's sports at the moment.
AI Description
A sleeper shark, previously thought to be absent from Antarctic waters, was captured on video. This discovery challenges existing beliefs about shark habitats.