{"id":249201,"date":"2026-01-17T07:33:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-17T07:33:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/249201\/"},"modified":"2026-01-17T07:33:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-17T07:33:13","slug":"these-students-dropped-a-baited-camera-into-the-atlantic-ocean-all-went-quiet-then-this-showed-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/249201\/","title":{"rendered":"These students dropped a baited camera into the Atlantic Ocean. &#8220;All went quiet\u2026&#8221; then this showed up"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Undergrad students from the University of Exeter were amazed when their underwater camera caught a lively pod of dolphins and at least one shark \u2013 all in under 10 minutes.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The students deployed a\u00a0BRUV\u00a0(baited remote underwater video camera) during a field trip in the Azores and were hoping to see predatory fish, perhaps even\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/animal-facts\/fish\/blue-shark-facts-size-diet-and-what-they-look-like\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">blue sharks<\/a>,\u00a0which can be found in these waters in the summer.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>They weren\u2019t disappointed as animals quickly thronged around the camera. \u201cThis was a really special deployment,\u201d says <a href=\"https:\/\/experts.exeter.ac.uk\/21531-phil-doherty\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Phil Doherty<\/a>, a marine conservation science lecturer at the University of Exeter, Penryn Campus. &#8220;There was a huge amount of activity and life on the days we were deploying the cameras.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>First, they saw Atlantic spotted dolphins. \u201cWe could hear their clicks and whistles first before they appeared on camera in pretty large numbers,\u201d he says.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The baited camera attracted a pod of Atlantic spotted dolphins. Credit: University of Exeter, Centre for Ecology and Conservation (Penryn based) <\/p>\n<p>Once the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/animal-facts\/marine-animals\/whale-vs-dolphin-whats-the-difference\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">dolphins<\/a>\u00a0had finished playing, they left the camera. <\/p>\n<p>But the action wasn\u2019t over yet. \u201cAll went quiet,\u201d says Doherty, then a few minutes later \u201ca large blue shark appeared out of the blue and scratched itself on the rig and checked out the bait.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>A blue shark appears out of the blue. Credit: University of Exeter, Centre for Ecology and Conservation (Penryn based)<\/p>\n<p>The Azores \u2013 a remote archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean \u2013 is known for its spectacular marine life. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The Azores is situated in incredibly deep water but has a high density of seamounts that create biodiversity hotspots, attracting large, migratory species,\u201d says Doherty. <\/p>\n<p>In this region, lots of different ocean currents mix together. \u201cDue to these factors, the Azores is a hub of activity for large marine vertebrates, especially whales and dolphins.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Top image: Azores underwater camera. Credit: University of Exeter, Centre for Ecology and Conservation (Penryn based)<\/p>\n<p>More amazing wildlife stories from around the world<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Undergrad students from the University of Exeter were amazed when their underwater camera caught a lively pod of&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":249202,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[61,60,82,263],"class_list":{"0":"post-249201","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-ie","9":"tag-ireland","10":"tag-science","11":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249201","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=249201"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249201\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/249202"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=249201"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=249201"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=249201"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}