A heart-stopping encounter
Researchers managed to capture footage of an ancient species that predates most dinosaurs during an expedition to the bottom of the ocean in a sub.
It is estimated that only five per cent of the ocean has been explored by humanity, and there’s no doubt there are countless mysteries still lurking in its depths.
Anyone who’s watched an episode of Blue Planet will have seen aquatic creatures that look more like something from the wildest sci-fi, whether its fish that can glow in the dark or beings that are almost completely translucent.
But there are also some Jurassic Park-esque beings below the waves, such as this one captured in footage from a sub back in 2019.
The video was posted by OceanX on their YouTube account and shows a the heart-stopping moment that a huge creature emerges from the ocean floor.
OceanX explained in the description of the video that the creature was a bluntnose sixgill shark, which it described as an “ancient species” that “predates most dinosaurs, and is a dominant predator of the deep sea ecosystem.”
They continued: “The lead scientist on the mission, FSU Marine Lab’s Dr. Dean Grubbs, has been the first to put a satellite tag on one of these elusive sharks, but until now had only been able to do so by bringing them up to the surface.”
The two scientists in the sub at the time of the stunning encounter are unable to contain their amazement.
They can be heard exclaiming “oh, wow!” as the shark interacts with the sub, and marvelling at its size.
At one point, the shark looks up to the researchers, giving the camera a full view of her huge eye.
Once she gets close enough to the submersible, they are able to tag her before she swims away.
Reacting to the video, one person wrote: “That eye close-up was wicked.”
Another said: “I got chills when the shark opened its eyes, never seen anything like that!”
A third commented: “I never knew a shark’s eye could look anything like that. Was so human-like.”
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