A gaggle of British Columbia scuba divers on Vancouver Island noticed a bluntnose sixgill shark on a current dive in Alberni Inlet, capturing what they are saying is uncommon footage of the animal in shallow waters.
Connor McTavish says he and fellow divers Garrett Clement, Danton West and Matteo Endrizzi had been exploring round a shipwreck late final month when he noticed one thing out of the nook of his eye.
McTavish says he used a flashlight and hand alerts to alert the others that he noticed a giant shark, and their preliminary disbelief turned to amazement when their cameras had been capable of seize footage of the animal, estimated at about two-metres lengthy.
“It was simply going by my thoughts that I’m in its ingredient. It’s simply curious. [You] simply keep calm and watch it move, and that’s the most effective I can do,” McTavish stated. “For essentially the most half, it was simply amazement and surprise at how lovely the factor was.”
Clement describes McTavish because the diver amongst them with the least quantity of expertise with sharks and says he initially didn’t consider him.
“I bear in mind taking a look at him and going, ‘Actually?’ We go over, and there’s nothing there, however he’s wanting round like a madman. We don’t see something. We are able to’t actually speak once we’re scuba diving, so we simply proceed on our dive.”
Ten minutes later, their underwater dive turned one thing he says they received’t quickly neglect.
“We simply went alongside the facet of the shipwreck. We had been simply wanting down, and swiftly, somebody’s mild beam caught a top level view of a shark swimming alongside the underside of the shipwreck.”
Sixgill shark a uncommon sight
Based on Fisheries and Oceans Canada, the sixgill shark, or Hexanchus griseus, can develop as much as 4.8 metres lengthy and has two rows of enamel.
Endrizzi says whereas he was excited by the sight, he’s most grateful he had his digital camera in hand to seize video proof of what they noticed earlier than their eyes.
“Normally, these sharks dwell in deep, deep water at 2,500 metres,” he stated.
“It’s a deep-water shark, and nobody is aware of why they arrive to the shallows. There are loads of theories, however nobody actually is aware of.”
The divers later posted the video on Clement’s Uncharted Odyssey YouTube channel.
WATCH | A bluntnose sixgill shark swims close to a shipwreck in Alberni Inlet:
Endrizzi says the group reached out to the DFO to inform it of the encounter, which he stated was “very grateful” to obtain the data contemplating how few sightings there are.
“If anybody does come throughout one, it’s a uncommon incidence, and I undoubtedly encourage them to succeed in out to DFO in order that knowledge will be recorded, and we will get extra data on these actually cool creatures,” stated Endrizzi.
Not often aggressive to people
Chris Harvey-Clark, a marine biologist at Dalhousie College in Halifax, has studied bluntnose sixgill sharks within the waters off Vancouver. He stated the species has an enormous mouth and noticed enamel and eats the whole lot, however he doesn’t suppose swimmers must be too nervous concerning the creatures taking a chunk out of them.
“There have been many, many diver encounters with this species, and no person’s ever actually had an aggressive encounter with a sixgill,” he stated.
Harvey-Clark added that they’re a slow-moving, comparatively sedentary bottom-feeding species, and their favorite meals is stuff that’s already lifeless.
“If you wish to see a sixgill actually get energetic, throw some salmon offal on the underside … That’s actually what they’re after.”