{"id":278688,"date":"2026-02-11T12:28:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-11T12:28:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/278688\/"},"modified":"2026-02-11T12:28:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-11T12:28:10","slug":"shark-filmed-swimming-in-deep-antarctic-waters-for-first-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/278688\/","title":{"rendered":"Shark filmed swimming in deep Antarctic waters for first time"},"content":{"rendered":"

A shark has been captured on video in the Southern Ocean for the first time, according to Australian researchers.<\/p>\n

Sharks have been around for hundreds of millions of years and can be found in nearly every corner of the world’s oceans.<\/p>\n

While sharks are often spotted in bycatch in sub-Antarctic fisheries, the closer you get to the South Pole, where temperatures can plunge to below freezing, the less likely it is to encounter one.<\/p>\n

Of the 500 plus shark species found globally, only five have been seen in the body of water that encircles Antarctica, the Southern Ocean.<\/p>\n

That is why oceanographer Jessica Kolbusz, from the Minderoo-UWA Deep-Sea Research Centre, was surprised by what she saw near the South Shetland Islands, off the Antarctic Peninsula, last year.<\/p>\n

What appeared to be a slow-moving member of the sleeper shark family briefly moved across footage taken by a baited camera, 490 metres beneath the surface.<\/p>\n

“It was surprising since this is the first footage obtained of a somniosidae [sleeper shark] or any elasmobranch [shark or ray] in situ in the Southern Ocean,” Dr Kolbusz said.<\/p>\n

Dr Kolbusz said it was serendipitous to capture footage of a sleeper shark anywhere.<\/p>\n

The exact species could not be determined from the footage because of the physical similarities in the sleeper shark family.<\/p>\n

Dr Kolbusz said tests for DNA in the water from the trip were yet to be examined.<\/p>\n

Peter Kyne, a Charles Darwin University adjunct conservation biologist who was not part of the expedition, said the footage was “really cool” and a significant record of what might be a Southern sleeper shark (Somniosus antarcticus).<\/p>\n

“The Southern sleeper shark is the most southerly occurring shark species but this I believe is the first record of it \u2014 and any shark \u2014 in Antarctica itself,” he said.<\/p>\n

“It is well known from the sub-Antarctic area \u2014 Macquarie Island, Heard and McDonald Islands.”<\/p>\n

What are sleeper sharks?<\/p>\n

Sleeper sharks are large sharks with mottled skin and small fins that dwell in the ocean from the surface to thousands of metres deep.<\/p>\n

There are several species of sleeper sharks, including the extremely long-lived Greenland shark (Somniosus microcephalus), which is believed to live to about 400 years<\/a> and is found in the northern hemisphere.<\/p>\n

Two similar-looking species are believed to live in the southern hemisphere, the Southern sleeper shark and the Pacific sleeper shark (Somniosus pacificus).<\/p>\n

The Southern sleeper shark was first identified from a sketch of a washed-up specimen on Macquarie Island in 1913, as part of a scientific mission to Sub-Antarctic islands and the Antarctic led by Sir Douglas Mawson.<\/p>\n

Not much is known about the species, with most of our knowledge coming from rare collections as fisheries bycatch.<\/p>\n

Stomachs of the Southern sleeper shark have often been found to contain remains of colossal squid (Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni)<\/a> \u2014 the world’s heaviest invertebrate.<\/p>\n

\"Three<\/p>\n

New Zealand biologist Harold Hamilton sketched a washed-up sleeper shark on Macquarie Island in 1913 as part of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition led by Sir Douglas Mawson. (Supplied: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales\/Australian Antarctic Division)<\/p>\n

Southern sleepers were thought to be limited to the southern hemisphere while Pacific sleepers were restricted to the north Pacific.<\/p>\n

But it is unclear whether the Southern sleeper shark and Pacific sleeper shark are separate species. A 2023 genetic study in the Pacific Ocean suggested the two sharks were the same species.<\/p>\n

It is not known whether that is the case in other places where the Southern sleeper is thought to be found.<\/p>\n

Research scientist Erwan Saulnier, from the Falkland Islands fisheries department, is leading a project in collaboration with several international institutions that will hopefully fill this knowledge gap.<\/p>\n

“Genetic analyses are scheduled to begin in mid-2026 and will include, for the first time, the two missing pieces of the puzzle: genetic data from the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans,” Dr Saulnier said.<\/p>\n

“Tissue samples have been collected at sea by fisheries observers or scientists from sleeper sharks caught either as bycatch in commercial fisheries or during targeted research surveys.”<\/p>\n

Why aren’t there many sharks in Antarctica?<\/p>\n

The high salt content of the oceans around Antarctica and the Arctic means water temperature can drop below the usual freezing point to about -2 degrees Celsius.<\/p>\n

This is simply too cold for most creatures, which would simply freeze.<\/p>\n

While we do not know the extremities of temperatures tolerated by Southern or Pacific sleeper sharks, Greenland sharks have been found in -2C water.<\/p>\n

The presence of the compound trimethylamine N-oxide and urea in Greenland shark muscle is believed to act like a natural antifreeze.<\/p>\n

The sleeper shark from the new footage was filmed in waters that were about 1.27C.<\/p>\n

Whether this shark may be able to populate more Antarctic waters as the ocean warms from climate change is unclear.<\/p>\n

“With the rate of warming and the likely wide-ranging thermal tolerance of the species, it’s most likely their distribution would stay consistent,” Dr Kolbusz said.<\/p>\n

“In saying this, we don’t know their exact distribution so it is hard to conclusively say.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A shark has been captured on video in the Southern Ocean for the first time, according to Australian…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":278689,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[156470,156465,137995,156474,156469,111,139,69,156467,147,156464,156466,156468,156471,156472,156473,406],"class_list":{"0":"post-278688","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-antarctic-research","9":"tag-are-there-sharks-in-antarctica","10":"tag-greenland-shark","11":"tag-is-a-southern-sleeper-shark-a-species","12":"tag-minderoo","13":"tag-new-zealand","14":"tag-newzealand","15":"tag-nz","16":"tag-pacific-sleeper-shark","17":"tag-science","18":"tag-sharks-in-antarctica","19":"tag-southern-sleeper-shark","20":"tag-uwa","21":"tag-what-is-a-sleeper-shark","22":"tag-what-is-a-southern-sleeper-shark","23":"tag-where-are-southern-sleeper-sharks","24":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278688","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=278688"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278688\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/278689"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=278688"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=278688"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=278688"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}