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Rare Shark Filmed in Japan

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Wed Jan 24, 2007 02:30 PM
from the 20,000-leagues dept.
Science News
[TheBORG] writes "A Deep Sea Frill Shark, whose normal habitat is between 600 and 1000m, was found and filmed off the coast of Japan recently. Normally they're caught (found dead) in fishermen's nets. This 'living fossil' was probably so close to the coast because it was sick. In its poor condition, the shark was moved by marine park personnel to a seawater pool where they filmed it swimming and opening its jaws. The shark died a few hours later after being filmed."
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[+] Female Sharks Can Reproduce Alone 293 comments
mikesd81 writes "The Washington Post has an article about a team of American and Irish researchers that have discovered that some female sharks can reproduce without having sex, the first time that scientists have found the unusual capacity in such an ancient vertebrate species. Their report concludes that sharks can reproduce asexually through the process known as parthenogenesis (the growth and development of an embryo or seed without fertilization by a male). Scientists started investigating after a female hammerhead shark was mysteriously born at Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo in a tank that housed 3 female sharks. It was originally thought one had stored sperm from a male shark before fertilizing an egg. However, baby shark's genetic makeup perfectly matched one of the females in the tank, with no sign of a male parent."
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  • 1000m? (Score:5, Informative)

    by COMON$ (806135) * on Wednesday January 24 2007, @02:34PM (#17741748) Journal
    Correct me if I am wrong but humans can go a bit deeper than 1000 feet as mentioned in the article.

    http://www.ussubs.com/faq/luxury.php3 a small deep submersible could be carried "piggy back" by the Seattle, allowing a small group of 2-3 people to board the deep submersible through a transfer lock and dive to depths of up to 3000 meters or more.

    • No Lasers? (Score:2, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Not worth mentioning then

    • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward
      1000m is Meters, not Feet. About three times the distance you were thinking.

      • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

        by Matt Edd (884107)
        From the link provided:

        7. How deep can the submarine dive?

        The Seattle 1000 is designed to dive to 305 meters, or 1000 feet. This is an optimum compromise that allows exploration at significant depth but also allows us to have very large viewports for exceptional visibility. If necessary, a small deep submersible could be carried "piggy back" by the Seattle, allowing a small group of 2-3 people to board the deep submersible through a transfer lock and dive to depths of up to 3000 meters or more.
        • more to the point. i don't think us sub has built a luxury submarine yet. at least not last time i checked their site. all their pictures are computer generated.
      • ya caught my mistake after posting, I really should start previewing or at least proofreading. I meant 1000m.
    • Current depth limitations of say the Seawolf class subs are classified, but the HY-100 steel that comprises their hulls provides for operational depths of between 300 to 533 meters although, Jane's quotes the depth of about 2000 feet. Smaller experimental hulls using HY-100 can allow for deeper dives, for instance Sea Cliff and Turtle were reportedly capable of reaching 10,000 feet.

    • Re:1000m? (Score:4, Informative)

      by Nos. (179609) <andrew&thekerrs,ca> on Wednesday January 24 2007, @02:51PM (#17742082) Homepage
      Wow, a little research, and I found this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bathyscaphe_Trieste [wikipedia.org].. . deepest dive, at almost 11,000m. That's impressive.

    • Re:1000m? (Score:5, Informative)

      by FridayBob (619244) on Wednesday January 24 2007, @06:59PM (#17745614)
      They mean humans with SCUBA equipment subjecting themselves to extreme ambient pressures -- not diving in submarines. Deepsea submarines have taken man to the very deepest parts of the oceans (about 11,000m), but the record for technical diving with special SCUBA equipment is 318.25m [scubarecords.com]: a record set by South African Nuno Gomes in Dahab (Sinai, Egypt) in 2005. Such dives are very dangerous and require careful management of multiple gas mixtures composed of oxygen, nitrogen and helium (trimix) to prevent problems like nitrogen narcosis, oxygen poisoning and decompression sickness (the bends). Deep dives like this also last so long (Nuno's dive was over 12 hours) that lots of other problems, such as hypothermia and dehydration, have plenty of time to develop.

      The deepest simulated dive is 685.5msw (meters of sea water) set at Duke Medical Center (Durham, North Carolina) by three divers in 1981. In cases like this, HPNS (high pressure nervous syndrome) is the limiting factor. HPNS is a syndrome of neurologic dysfunction with symptoms that include tremors, dizziness, vertigo, nausea, visual distortions and altered sleep. Tremors associated with HPNS have been reported as shallow as 128.72msw, but the deeper you go, the more likely HPNS is to occur. Eventually, it can prevent a diver from performing essential tasks during a dive.

      Knowing this, you have to admire those sperm whales: mammals that are believed to be able to dive as deep as 3,000 metres and then go hunting for food at that depth!
      • Exactly. Going that deep is one problem, trying to move around in that enormous pressure even with a sub and literally trying see anything in that pitch-black environment sounds like a mission impossible.

        At already 500m depth the pressure is ~50 atmospheres, if you'd be sent down there without any protection, any squid look like a giant next to you (maybe that's what the japanese are baffling about ? cause i really don't understand that giant-squid-mania).

        It's interesting however how that s

  • Ugh... (Score:3, Funny)

    by creimer (824291) on Wednesday January 24 2007, @02:36PM (#17741772) Homepage
    Looks the ugly step-child of a Resident Evil monster. With neighbors like that, no wonder Godzilla rampages through Tokyo every now and then.

    • I'll bet (Score:4, Funny)

      by Aqua_boy17 (962670) on Wednesday January 24 2007, @02:39PM (#17741834)
      This guy was probably one of the sole survivors who ate Godzilla eggs keeping the population down. Now they're in for it. "Oh no, there goes Tokyo!"
          • Oh man, that's a scary thought. I can only see the stories in the Komodo Dragon New Testament, such as Komodo Dragon Jesus Feeds the 3,000... to his Disciples.
    • I don't think it was looking for a date. Kind of looks like my mother in law, though...

  • Ah hah! (Score:5, Funny)

    by dreddnott (555950) <dreddnott@yahoo.com> on Wednesday January 24 2007, @02:40PM (#17741840) Homepage
    More proof that cameras steal souls!

  • Obl. laser joke. (Score:3, Funny)

    by grasshoppa (657393) <skennedyNO@SPAMtpno-co.org> on Wednesday January 24 2007, @02:42PM (#17741884) Homepage
    But what kind of lasers were they armed with?

    Ok, now that we got that out of our system, we can procede.
    • Ok, now that we got that out of our system, we can procede.

      Wait, wait, we need someone to play spelling Nazi before we can truly proceed. There, that's better.
  • Good thing they didn't have to tangle with a jaguar shark [wikipedia.org]. That's the kind of thing that can give you crazy-eye [imdb.com].

    • I'm sorry, but the current evolutionary version is the "Tiger Shark". There is no current release date for "Leopard Fish".

      Jaguar sharks are deprecated and should be evolved at the soonest opportunity.

  • Video shot of the shark (Score:5, Informative)

    by Pippen101 (970618) on Wednesday January 24 2007, @02:49PM (#17742014)
    http://youtube.com/watch?v=Qz_nZixWX6Q [youtube.com] Youtube video of the shark

    • My theory (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Vicegrip (82853) on Thursday January 25 2007, @01:03AM (#17748294) Journal
      Interesting, in the video it looks like it is keeping its gills crazy-open none-stop. It looks like its desperately trying to get enough water across its gills. Maybe it just died of exhaustion because of the effort? Kind of like what people go through when not used to mountain atmospheres and get out of breath fast.

      My free guess: it almost got caught by a fishing net which wounded it. The damage caused the fish to become disoriented. Lack of oxygen further disoriented it and all it could to stay alive was try to get more water across its gills. Eventually it died from exhaustion.

  • $10,000 Plate? (Score:3, Funny)

    by Kirin Fenrir (1001780) on Wednesday January 24 2007, @02:59PM (#17742208)
    Japan huh? And now it's dead?

    That's going to be the most expensive plate of sushi ever!

  • WTF did they have to capture it for?

    They clearly moved it so a shallow area where it couldn't find its way back to the depths.

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by unchiujar (1030510)
      So someone can study it maybe ?

    • Judging from the article and the video of the poor creature it was already pretty sick and in quite some distress. So it was prpobably going to end up dead in some trawlers nets anyway. Why not bring it back and study it and maybe even give it a chance to recover free from predators?

  • After watching the video, it looked like an eel but with an ugly face. :)
  • Damn it !
    They've always either been dead for too long, or have somthing wrong with them, when are we going to get to taste one of theese things ?
  • Why is it everything the Japanese have been bringing up lately (see giant squid article) dies during or shortly after capture? That and their continued whaling for "scientific research".

  • ...one heckova case of the bends.

  • Probably an earthquake (Score:3, Informative)

    by coalrestall (973453) on Wednesday January 24 2007, @10:57PM (#17747590)
    The part of Japan it was found has a narrow gulf on a plate with some very very deep water. It's not unusual after an earthquake for all manner of freaky sea creatures to surface, apparently fleeing the depths.
    • If we start seeing more and more frilled sharks all coming to shallow waters around the same time, I'll be worried. For the moment, though, this does look like an aberration.

    • Re:Change in currents (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Brushfireb (635997) * on Wednesday January 24 2007, @03:13PM (#17742372)
      I don't understand why a shark would surface if it was sick, that would just make it more vulnerable to unforeseen predators.

      This is quite common in *many* animal species. Even dogs and raccoons do this. Obviously, when a creature gets physically sick (or old), often they are also mentally deficient as well, just like humans. With animals, however, they often wander into strange places, away from others of their kind, and generally do things they wouldn't ever normally do. This can be attributed to loss of sensory capabilities, perception, and many other things.

      In some ways, this is advantageous -- not to the individual creature, but to the overall population -- and can potentially be considered advantageous behavior. If a creature is infested with a disease, the further away it gets from its healthy kin, the better off they are likely to be. If the creature is just old, it can benefit the rest of the 'pack' by leading predators away, at very least, before it dies.

      Back on topic... This thing looked pretty beaten up. Granted, I haven't ever seen one before, but it looks to me pretty old and out of it. It was just its time -- I wouldn't attribute its death to anything else unless you start seeing many more similar cases. Then it makes sense to worry. Until then, this is just kind of 'cool' for us monkeys.

      B

      • Re:Change in currents (Score:5, Funny)

        by carpeweb (949895) on Wednesday January 24 2007, @04:03PM (#17743124) Journal
        I've had several dogs, and not one of them ever surfaced from 1,000 m just because they were sick or dying.
      • Not necessarily deficient behavior. Cats have a reputation for "sneaking off to die", but it's more like sneaking off to survive. They have strong recuperative powers and can get over some pretty serious injuries and illnesses -- if a predator doesn't get to them in their weakened state. So when sick or injured they'll go to their favorite hidey-hole for protection.

        rj

      • Re:Change in currents (Score:5, Funny)

        by StikyPad (445176) on Wednesday January 24 2007, @05:02PM (#17744040) Homepage
        I don't understand why a shark would surface if it was sick

        This is quite common in *many* animal species. Even dogs and raccoons do this.

        Only the ones that are witches. The rest of them stay on the bottom.

    • Re:Change in currents (Score:5, Interesting)

      by adisakp (705706) on Wednesday January 24 2007, @03:49PM (#17742880) Journal
      I don't understand why a shark would surface if it was sick, that would just make it more vulnerable to unforeseen predators.

      One of the first symptoms of many types of sickness in most species of fish is difficulty controlling their buoyancy. If you have a fish tank and your fish is sitting at the top or bottom of the tank and moving slowly, that's a good sign it's a sick fishy.
    • Yeah, that must be it. Good thing we have your learned input. Obviously your research has shown you that there's no pollution at the shark's natural habitat, right?
    • Hehe. I first read the word as "politicians" not "pollution," and I thought every good idea has it's downside, doesn't it?

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