homehome Home chatchat Notifications


These sharks thrive in a real-life underwater volcano

Yes, these sharks live inside a volcano.

Mihai Andrei
November 20, 2017 @ 3:54 pm

share Share

It’s not Sharknado, but it’s definitely Sharkcano — researchers have found thriving, active sharks in an underwater volcano in the Solomon Islands near Papua New Guinea.

Life always finds a way; whether we’re talking about tardigrades living in extreme environments, plants in frozen landscapes, or, as it turns out, sharks in a volcano. In January 2014, National Geographic reported the unexpected discovery of several marine species living inside an active underwater volcano caldera, in the Kavachi Volcano in the Southwest Pacific Ocean (around the Solomon Islands). Particularly surprising was the presence of sleeper sharks.

“We were freaking out,” said University of Rhode Island Ph.D student Brennan Phillips to National Geographic.

Thought to be both predators and scavengers, sleeper sharks feed by suction and cutting of their prey. They live in frigid depths, where light is scarce and food is even scarcer. So what on Earth were these creatures doing in the hot, acidic caldera? That’s a good question, which researchers wanted to answer. So scientists went back for another expedition. But how do you explore an environment that’s toxic and hot enough to injure or even kill you? Why, you send in the robots, of course.

“Our goal is to send instrumentation there to get meaningful data, but sometimes it’s really fun to just blow stuff up,” says National Geographic explorer and ocean engineer Brennan Phillips.

Image credits: National Geographic / Youtube.

Phillips reunited with his 2015 expedition mates — Alistair Grinham of University of Queensland and Matthew Dunbabin of Queensland University of Technology and Director of GFB Robotics — to measure pH, carbon dioxide, temperature fluctuations, acidity, and have a glimpse of the location.
“The smaller robots have acoustic depth sounders for gathering bathymetry of the vent region, surface water temperature sensors, accelerometers, and cameras. The larger robots carry greenhouse gas monitoring sensors and measure direct gas release to the atmosphere as well as physical air samples. We also have simple drifting robots that are capable of collecting water samples,” says Dunbabin.

The water inside the caldera is hot, acidic, and turbid. Image credits: National Geographic / Youtube.

They’ve learned that Kavachi is a strong greenhouse gas emitter, water temperatures are ten degrees higher than normal, and the pH drops sharply. The water is also very cloudy. None of these things are really surprising, and they’re all these bad for fish, and but are they equally bad for sharks?
For now, that’s still an open question. While the expedition helped shed more light on the Kavachi situation, we still don’t know how the sharks got there, why they’re enjoying the place so much, and how they will adapt in the future. Can they anticipate an impending eruption? What do they feed on? Those are all still questions that need to be answered. These learnings are now driving the development of new experiments for the next trip, Dunbabin says, and the exploration of Kavachi is far from over. In fact, it may just be beginning.

share Share

Ronan the Sea Lion Can Keep a Beat Better Than You Can — and She Might Just Change What We Know About Music and the Brain

A rescued sea lion is shaking up what scientists thought they knew about rhythm and the brain

Did the Ancient Egyptians Paint the Milky Way on Their Coffins?

Tomb art suggests the sky goddess Nut from ancient Egypt might reveal the oldest depiction of our galaxy.

Dinosaurs Were Doing Just Fine Before the Asteroid Hit

New research overturns the idea that dinosaurs were already dying out before the asteroid hit.

Denmark could become the first country to ban deepfakes

Denmark hopes to pass a law prohibiting publishing deepfakes without the subject's consent.

Archaeologists find 2,000-year-old Roman military sandals in Germany with nails for traction

To march legionaries across the vast Roman Empire, solid footwear was required.

Mexico Will Give U.S. More Water to Avert More Tariffs

Droughts due to climate change are making Mexico increasingly water indebted to the USA.

Chinese Student Got Rescued from Mount Fuji—Then Went Back for His Phone and Needed Saving Again

A student was saved two times in four days after ignoring warnings to stay off Mount Fuji.

The perfect pub crawl: mathematicians solve most efficient way to visit all 81,998 bars in South Korea

This is the longest pub crawl ever solved by scientists.

This Film Shaped Like Shark Skin Makes Planes More Aerodynamic and Saves Billions in Fuel

Mimicking shark skin may help aviation shed fuel—and carbon

China Just Made the World's Fastest Transistor and It Is Not Made of Silicon

The new transistor runs 40% faster and uses less power.