In the deep waters around Antarctica, a sleeping shark has been captured on camera for the first time, slowly gliding over a barren sea floor – where sunlight barely reaches the bottom.

According to researcher Alan Jameson, the footage was taken in January 2025. It is estimated to be a sizeable specimen about three to four meters long.

Discovery in the depths of the Antarctic Ocean

“We were descending there, not expecting to encounter sharks, because there is a general rule: sharks don’t occur in Antarctica.”

– Alan Jameson

“And this isn’t even a small specimen. It’s a chunk of a shark. These things – they’re tanks.”

– Alan Jameson

The Minderoo-UWA Deep-Sea Research Centre camera, which tracks life in the planet’s deepest waters, was positioned near the South Shetland Islands off the Antarctic Peninsula. This region of the Antarctic Ocean, also known as the Southern Ocean, lies south of the 60th parallel south.

The center said the photo could be published via AP – on Wednesday they granted permission to publish the image.

The shark was at a depth of about 490 meters (1,608 feet), and the water temperature was about 1.27°C (34.29°F).

The frame also shows a skate, stationary on the seabed. In appearance it did not disturb the shark, and such a skate, a relative of sharks, does not surprise scientists: their range extends so far south.

Jameson, founder and director of the Deep Sea Research Centre at the University of Western Australia, noted that he cannot find records of another shark captured in the Antarctic Ocean.

Peter Cain, a conservation biologist from Charles Darwin University, independent of the center, agreed that sharks had never before been recorded so far south.

Climate change and warming oceans could push sharks toward colder waters in the southern hemisphere, but there is little data on shifts in their ranges near Antarctica, Cain explained.

Sleepy sharks may have inhabited Antarctica for a long time, but their existence may have gone unnoticed, Jameson concluded.

“This is wonderful. The shark was in the right place, the camera was in the right place, and they captured this wonderful video. It is quite significant.”

– Peter Cain

The sleepy shark population in the Antarctic Ocean, according to experts, is likely rare and hard to detect by people. The shark remained at depths of around 490–500 meters along the seabed, where a warmer layer of water indeed forms that transitions into deeper masses.

The Antarctic Ocean is characterized by strong vertical layering: cold, dense waters from below do not mix with the waters coming from the snow and ice above, creating several water layers up to the surface.

Jameson expects that other sleepy sharks may inhabit similar depths near Antarctica, feeding on whale carcasses, giant squids, and other sea creatures that sink to the bottom.

Currently there are not many research cameras in the Antarctic Ocean at this depth. Such devices typically operate mainly during the Southern Hemisphere’s summer months – from December to February.

“And another 75% of the year no one watches this. And that’s why, in my view, we sometimes encounter such surprises,” concluded Jameson.