To understand why sharks of the depths are so different to those at the surface, we must find out what caused them to diversify in this way.
From the bioluminescent lantern shark, to the parasitic cookie-cutter shark that tears chunks from whales and dolphins. But these sharks represent just the tip of the iceberg, for lurking in deeper waters is a world of elusive, mysterious, and often gigantic shark species. They are streamlined to allow for faster movement, and blueish grey, so that they can blend in with their environment. Near the surface, pelagic sharks like blue sharks, makos, and great whites exhibit fairly similar features. They are highly-specialised predators, demonstrating an array of adaptations in order to survive the various habitats of the ocean. But sharks are far more remarkable than mere monsters. “I hope the new generation will carry that message, and I’m more than happy to my little piece of the jigsaw to a big program to protect the ocean,” Mallefet says.When we think of sharks, many of us picture them as mindless killers. “We hope by highlighting something new in the deep sea of New Zealand-glowing sharks-that maybe people will start thinking we should protect this environment before destroying it,” he tells Mongabay. Mallefet says he hopes he will soon be able to safely travel for his research and continue investigating the glowing denizens of the deep. Speaking with the Guardian, Mallefet says “we are still very surprised by the glow on the dorsal fin. “I tend to say they are the MacGyver users of light, because they use bioluminescence in many different ways,” Jérôme Mallefet, a marine biologist at the Université Catholique de Louvainthe and the study’s lead author, tells Mongabay.Ĭuriously, the kitefin’s dorsal fin also emits light. Per the Guardian, the kitefin may also be using its glow to illuminate prey on the seafloor. In the darkness of the deep sea, the ocean surface is a faintly luminous backdrop against which a glowing shark would disappear when viewed from below, concealing it from predators or prey. Researchers aren’t exactly sure what purpose the ability to glow serves for the sharks but speculate that their glowing bellies could make them harder to see from below. Researchers tell Mongabay that this trio of sharks appears to produce light some other way.
Most bioluminescence in the deep sea involves a chemical compound called luciferin that glows when it interacts with oxygen. A study detailing the discovery, published last month in the journal Frontiers in Marine Science, confirms the three sharks’ bioluminescence but suggests their biochemical mechanism for producing light may be different from most sea creatures, per Mongabay.
All three sharks inhabit the ocean’s mesopelagic or “twilight” zone, which spans depths of 660 to 3,300 feet below the surface.īioluminescence is relatively common in the deep sea among fish and squids, but its presence has been murkier and less well-studied among sharks, reports Elizabeth Claire Alberts for Mongabay. The three bioluminescent sharks-the kitefin shark, the blackbelly lanternshark and the southern lanternshark-were hauled up from the deep during fish surveys of an ocean bottom feature called the Chatham Rise off the east coast of New Zealand in January 2020. One of the species, the kitefin shark, can reach lengths of nearly six feet and researchers say its cool blue glow makes it the largest known species of luminous vertebrate on Earth. Scientists have discovered three species of glowing sharks in the deep ocean near New Zealand, reports Elle Hunt for the Guardian.
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