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<\/p>\nFootage of a sleeper shark traversing a barren Antarctic seabed has left experts with much to discuss, as the newly captured video contradicts a widely held belief that the deep-sea dwellers don\u2019t live in the region.<\/p>\n
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Many experts thought sharks<\/a> didn\u2019t exist in the frigid waters of Antarctica<\/a>, the researcher and founding director of the Deep-Sea Research Centre at the University of Western Australia, Alan Jamieson, said this week.<\/p>\n The shark, filmed in January 2025, was substantially sized, estimated to be between three and four metres long.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t2:16 \t\tPrevious Video<\/p>\n \t\tNext Video<\/p>\n Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n \u201cWe went down there not expecting to see sharks because there\u2019s a general rule of thumb that you don\u2019t get sharks in Antarctica,\u201d Jamieson told The Associated Press. \u201cAnd it\u2019s not even a little one either. It\u2019s a hunk of a shark. These things are tanks.\u201d<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\tGet breaking National news<\/p>\n For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen.<\/p>\n The camera operated by the Australian research facility, which studies life in the deepest parts of the world\u2019s oceans, was positioned off the South Shetland Islands near the Antarctic Peninsula.<\/p>\n The shark was spotted swimming at a depth of 490 metres, in temperatures hovering just above 1 C.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore on World The shark was swimming at that depth because it was in the warmest of several water layers stacked on top of each other, Jamieson explained, adding that he found no other record of any shark swimming in the Antarctic Ocean.<\/p>\n Another expert, Peter Kyne, a Charles Darwin University conservation biologist not associated with the research centre, agreed that there were no previous records of a shark swimming so far south.<\/p>\n Data on sharks\u2019 travel patterns and ranges in the region are relatively scarce due to its remoteness, Kyne explained. While climate change could be a contributing factor, it may also be that the slow-moving sleeper sharks were already in Antarctica, but nobody ever noticed.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is great. The shark was in the right place, the camera was in the right place and they got this great footage,\u201d Kyne said. \u201cIt\u2019s quite significant.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\tTrending Now\n\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\tTumbler Ridge school shooting victim set to hopefully return home soon from Vancouver hospital\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n \t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\tFederal workers must return to offices, but unclear if space available\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n Jamieson added that the sleeper shark population in the Antarctic Ocean may also be small, making them hard to spot.<\/p>\n The Antarctic Ocean is heavily layered to a depth of around 1,000 metres because of its conflicting properties. Colder, denser water from below does not readily mix with fresh water closer to the surface.<\/p>\n Jamieson suspects that other sharks linger at the same depth, feeding on whale carcasses, giant squid and other sunken marine life.<\/p>\n Research cameras stationed at those depths are few and far between and are only operational in the summer months.<\/p>\n \u201cThe other 75 per cent of the year, no one\u2019s looking at all. And so this is why, I think, we occasionally come across these surprises,\u201d Jamieson said.<\/p>\n The mysterious depths of the Antarctic Ocean are home to only a handful of seemingly\u00a0otherworldly sea creatures<\/a>, including the mackerel icefish, which, due to its lack of hemoglobin, has colourless blood, and Antarctic cod, which, like the Antarctic toothfish, have antifreeze proteins in their tissues and blood.<\/p>\n![\"Click](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/antarctic.jpg\")
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRapid climate shifts in Antarctica could have major global impacts, expert warns\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n![\"For](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1767930311_275_national.jpg\")
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