Researchers from Newfoundland and Labrador’s Memorial University have captured video giving scientists a glimpse into one of the world’s largest, and most elusive shark species.
The peer-reviewed study, written by Brynn Devine, Laura Wheeland and Johnathan A.D. Fisher, provides the first scientific estimates of the abundance of the Greenland shark in the deep, cold waters it calls home.
Despite historically being caught as a commercially fished species relatively little is known about the species. Up until 1960, the species was caught for its liver oil
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According to Devine, the Greenland shark can grow to over six metres in length. They prefer the cooler regions of the Arctic and North Atlantic oceans.
The Greenland shark can also live for an extremely long time, with one study estimating that they can live as long as 400 years — making it one of the longest-lived vertebrate in the world.
The shark is also the Arctic’s top predator — despite having limited vision and a relatively slow swimming speed when compared to other species.
Devine and her team of researchers used baited remote underwater video cameras off the coast of Nunavut to lure and then observe the sharks.
“We observed a wide range of shark sizes, from lengths well over three metres to quite small sharks, less than 1.5 metres in one particular region,” Devine told the Memorial University Gazette, the institution’s internal newspaper.
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According to Devine, her team analyzed more than 258 hours of video data to help in the analysis.
The study argues that the findings will help fill in a “knowledge gap” surrounding the species, something that could be critical in understanding the species along with any possible future conservation efforts.
The cameras allowed the researchers to collect data on the depth and temperature of the water that the sharks commonly reside in, as well as the size and sex distribution.