Shark tagged from submarine for first time in history
For the past year, a research team has developed a new strategy to study the near threatened bluntnose sixgill shark in deep waters.
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For the past year, a group of researchers have been trying to tag a bluntnose sixgill shark from a submarine for the first time in history.
Sixgill sharks have six gills compared to the five in the average shark.
The sixgill can swim at depths of 4,500 feet, which makes it a difficult target to study.
On the IUCN’s Red List of Threatened Species, they are listed as “near threatened," however there is not enough data to estimate their population.
Females tend to be larger than males—measuring up to 18 feet at maturity—and give birth to 40 to 110 pups at a time.
While more than 20 sixgill sharks have been tagged since 2005, none of them have been tagged in their natural deep-water environment.
In this attempt, researchers deployed a tagging device from a speargun attached to the submarine.
After some attempts, the researchers were able to tag a large male sixgill.
The tag has a three-month life span, after which it will float to the surface for the researchers to retrieve.
They hope that the data collected will shed light on the shark’s home range and breeding ground locations.
