Elusive sleeper shark seen off Antarctica in a first<\/p>\n
Scientists have captured footage of a sleeper shark farther south than ever before, suggesting Antarctica\u2019s Southern Ocean is not shark-free<\/p>\n
By Jeanna Bryner<\/a> edited by Claire Cameron<\/a><\/p>\n Researchers at the Minderoo-UWA Deep-Sea Research Centre watch footage of what is likely a southern sleeper shark swimming into view off Antarctica’s South Shetland Islands.<\/p>\n Inkfish\/UWA\/Kelpie Geoscience<\/p>\n A rare encounter with a southern sleeper shark in the deep, chilly waters of Antarctica\u2019s Southern Ocean has scientists reimagining what fauna might live in such a harsh, extreme environment<\/a>.<\/p>\n Footage of the shark was captured in January 2025 by a baited deep-sea camera in a trench at about 490 meters beneath the sea surface off the South Shetland Islands.<\/p>\n \u201c[It was] very surprising, as we didn\u2019t think sharks were in Antarctic waters<\/a> at all, let alone such a huge iconic one like the southern sleeper shark,\u201d says Alan Jamieson, founding director of the Minderoo\u2013University of Western Australia (UWA) Deep-Sea Research Center, which set up the camera. Jamieson adds that the shark was instantly recognizable, \u201cas no other shark looks like these guys.\u201d<\/p>\n On supporting science journalism<\/p>\n If you’re enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing<\/a>. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.<\/p>\n During the shark\u2019s surprise appearance, which was hidden in about 400 hours of footage, marine geoscientist and center member Heather Stewart can be heard asking, \u201cWhat is that that sneaks on in the background?\u201d The researchers now think this is the most southerly report of a southern sleeper shark (Somniosus antarcticus).<\/p>\n These deep-sea predators, which survive on a diet of cephalopods<\/a>, ray-finned fish, and even some mammals and birds, can live for 250 to 300 years, according to the center. The Associated Press reported<\/a> that this individual spanned between three and four meters in length.<\/p>\n The shark is thought to be a female because of the animal\u2019s lack of claspers\u2014a pair of appendages found on male sharks\u2014and was gracefully swimming around in an about two-degree-Celsius subsurface layer of water. This relatively less frigid corridor could allow such sharks to push farther south and into colder climes than scientists thought.<\/p>\n Southern sleeper sharks\u2019 deep-sea habitat makes them tricky to study, and there have been just a few sightings of the species.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s pretty rare to see these animals just because the depth they live at. These animals have sort of evolved to be quite long-lived and, like a lot of deep animals, have really slow metabolisms, so they can go a long time without eating,\u201d said Dylan White-Kiely, a research assistant at the Minderoo-UWA Deep-Sea Research Center, in the same video.<\/p>\n Finding this shark so far south indicates she might not be alone in the lonely Antarctic waters. \u201cThis changes what we know about shark distribution and their ability to tolerate extreme environments,\u201d the researchers said in a statement<\/a>. \u201cThe Southern Ocean might not be as shark-free as we once thought.\u201d<\/p>\n Editor\u2019s Note (2\/19\/26): This article was updated after posting to include comment from Alan Jamieson and additional information.<\/p>\n We’re looking to host the most interesting science conversations on the web for this topic.<\/p>\n Start the DiscussionIt\u2019s Time to Stand Up for Science<\/p>\n If you enjoyed this article, I\u2019d like to ask for your support. 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I hope you\u2019ll support us in that mission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"February 18, 2026 2 min read Add Us On GoogleAdd SciAm Elusive sleeper shark seen off Antarctica in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":437205,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[90,56,54,55,4407],"class_list":["post-437204","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-science","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/437204","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=437204"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/437204\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/437205"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=437204"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=437204"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=437204"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Screenshot](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/southern-sleeper-shark-screenshot-2.jpg\")
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