Deep Sea Shark Stakeout | National Geographic
Can I get a clap from Buck? Excellent, Buck. And we go live in three, two.
My name is Annie Roth, and I am a journalist on assignment with National Geographic.
My name is Melissa Márquez. I'm a shark scientist aboard the "Ocean Explorer."
And like Melissa said, we are aboard the "Ocean Explorer," which is a huge vessel dedicated to science and media production. Right now, we're in mission control, watching a remotely operated vehicle sending down to-- what have we got? [speaking indistinctly]
To 231 meters.
231 meters, and we're watching two submersibles that are already down on the bottom that are there to study six-gilled sharks, the biggest deep-sea shark out there. And they already have some fish down there and a tube filled with chum. And we're just playing the waiting game, hoping for these sharks to show up. We've already seen two of them. And we're hoping that another one shows up. And yeah, are you excited?
Yeah. Very excited.
We've been up for a couple hours, so bear with us. And meet our awesome ROV pilots.
I am Olaf.
And I'm Euan Bason.
We've also got one of our sub pilots over here.
I am, uh, Buck Taylor.
Did you forget your name? [laughter]
It's been a long night.
I know.
So sharks are nocturnal, and so is the crew of the "Ocean Explorer" for the next couple days. And yeah, it's taken a toll, to be honest with you. [laughter]
But right now, there are two subs down, and there are three people in each of them. And they are hoping to see the six-gills because they are conducting not only an ambitious filmmaking project to film these sharks in their natural habitat; they're also trying to tag them. So their goal is to attach two different kinds of tags to the six-gill sharks here to learn about their vertical migration or distribution, how they spend their time. They want to know what they're up to. They want to know how climate change is impacting them. They want to know what they're eating and just, like, what they're doing with their time. Who doesn't want to know? These sharks are awesome. Of course we want to know what they're doing. Yeah. Anything else you want to say about sharks?
No, you've taken everything out of my mouth. [laughter]
These sharks are super cool. They can grow up to 20 feet long. They can get as big as great white sharks. They haven't changed much since they shared the planet with dinosaurs. They have, like, really cool eyes. They have, like, really small dorsal fins, like, way in the back of their body. They're not like your typical shark. And they're kind of the kings down here. Their only predators are each other and queens, hey.
We're seeing females. They're the queens.
And yeah, the subs have had a lot of luck seeing these sharks over the past couple days. And they've even, like, bumped into the sub. So yeah, there's been some fun shark activity. And we're hoping to see some more here. Right now, we're just looking at, like, a bunch of horse mackerel. And we saw an eel earlier. So just keep your eyes stuck to the feed, and you might see something neat. You know, if you like fish, then you came to the right place. We are on the Condor seamount, which is a protected seamount here in the Azores, which is 800 miles off the coast of Portugal. It's an island archipelago.
And the reason we've come here is, there are a ton of these sharks. Fishing for these sharks here was banned several years ago. And this particular seamount is protected, so the population here is just thriving. And it's no coincidence that every night these subs have been down, they've seen one. And it's a sign of a really healthy ecosystem overall here. When there's a bunch of top predators, it just speaks volumes about the health of the entire ecosystem. Yeah, it's fun to see. I'm having a great time. Definitely not tired at all. [laughter]
Guys down there are playing the waiting game, that's for sure.
Mm.
Yeah, the people in the sub have been down there for quite some time. But they brought some snacks, keep them entertained and fed, so that's good.
There's card games.
Yeah. We've got the two subs, "Nadir" and "Neptune." "Neptune's" a science sub. So we have two scientists on board or on pilot. And then "Nadir" is our filming sub. We have a director, cameraman, and a pilot. And so you can't see "Nadir" at the moment. She's in the dark, hiding out of the way. And I've been piloting the last few nights. I'm out tonight. But just to see those sharks-- we've spent a lot of time last few days just to see those sharks cruise by, and cruising is--it's impressive, isn't it?
It's amazing. I mean, it really is like looking at a dinosaur, essentially, just a dinosaur of the deep. They're absolutely--
Shark.
Oh!
Yeah, here he comes.
Coming in bottom left, bottom left.
There she goes.
Look at you.
Wow.
Slow moving but so powerful.
Wow.
They get their nose under the sub.
Oh, oh, oh.
So this is a 12-meter-wide sub.
Come on, come on, come on. Come on. Come on.
Oh, boy.
Go! Come on, baby. Come on.
So the sub that the shark is in front of is a science sub. So there is two spears--spearguns mounted on the top that are armed with tags, which is how they're trying to tag these sharks. This shark didn't get quite in range, but look how huge it is. The sub is, like, 12 feet across. And so you can kind of see by perspective how big this shark is.
Well, that tube on the seafloor is 1.8 meters long.
Yeah. So what the scientists are waiting for-- we have two green lasers that shine out from the sub, and they're in line with the two spearguns. And they're waiting for that to go just below the dorsal-- or just below the sort of lateral line or above the lateral line into the sort of muscle there. So this is tough for the guys, you know, moving the sub around quickly. And so they have to sit and wait for that shark--
Come back around.
Come on, baby. Come on.
Wow.
And so they're very patient, these guys. They'll just sit and wait and get the perfect shot.
For hours and hours.
Hours and hours.
We run out of snacks. We cry a little.
And you've been in that sub. It weighs a ton. But when they want to move the sub, they'll move the sub, won't they, the sharks?
Yeah, yeah, oh, 100%.
They'll put their nose underneath and just push you around.
It's a bit funny how easy these sharks move.
Hold on. Come back around. What's--from the bottom-- No, wait. Where is it?
It's just underneath us.
Oh, it's underneath us.
The sharks have been doing this every night. They'll pick up the scent and start circling round and gradually hone in and work out where the bait is. So--
It disappeared.
It's underneath us.
It's just underneath us.
No, it's disappeared, you guys. It sucked it up. Do you remember how I said that you were gonna do, like, alien abduction stuff? You've alien abducted the shark. So if you're just tuning in, we just saw a-- [laughter] We just saw a six-gill shark, and we are watching--
Wait, hold on a second.
Oh, come on, baby.
Incoming.
Here we go.
No, get closer.
He's picking up that scent.
Get closer.
So they can't just tag the shark anywhere. It has to be in the perfect, like, spot on its back.
Oh, come on.
Here--oh, oh.
No, no. Come on.
Wow.
If he turns to the left now--
Turn, turn, turn.
Turn, turn.
She's gonna go to the vapor. There's fish on the vapor. Up her nose.
Of course she is.
Wow, the sub's getting a real show right now.
So the three guys in the sub, they'll have a front view.
He just booped the sub.
Yeah.
Oh my God. Oh!
Wow.
That's a big shark.
Look at that!
Okay. Just go off, I guess.
To give you an idea of size, that's four meters.
Wow. Four meters.
Yeah. Wow, that was such a dramatic shot just now.
That's about max size for them, isn't it, Buck?
Sorry?
20 feet is about max size for them.
Wow.
That we know of, yeah. So on average, they're 14, 18.
Yeah, they get a little bit bigger than that, but yeah.
Yeah.
Wow. Oh, turn around.
Here she comes again.
Coming back.
There she goes.
Come on.
It's all about that scent. And you can see her eyeball.
Oh, you can see her eye.
Yeah.
Wow.
Those eyes are amazing. They just roll around in their head.
Oh, my goodness.
Beautiful shark.
They are.
The tags they're trying to attach to the shark will allow scientists to--
There she goes.
Oh!
Come on, baby girl. Come on. Yes, come on.
If she turns...
Turn, turn, turn.
Oh, boy! both: Turn, turn, turn.
Now, so the problem is, we have to…
She's just teasing the sub.
Place that bait, but I think there's a bag of fish blood in that corner.
Yes.
And so she's--
Oh, yeah, that's true.
Her nose is very, very good. She knows exactly where that is.
Well, imagine being in the sub right now. They're really getting the full experience.
We've had that. It's pretty amazing, them getting that close and--
Oh, she got it. Got the bag. [laughter]
That's it. We're never seeing that bag again. [laughter]
We'll pick it up before we go, though, won't we, Buck?
It's well protected. She can't get hold of it.
There she goes. I don't think she's done with us yet.
A little bit of a tease, but we do leave some behind. Well, they normally will pick bits off the bar.
There she goes.
What a beautiful fish.
Wow.
Great shot, Jeremy.
Yeah.
Wow.
That is stunning.
Oh, little bit of a turn.
Oh, she's turning.
Oh!
Come on.
She can't get enough.
Yeah. And they've been doing this every night. They come in. They have a sniff, a nibble, and then they'll pull away again and might get spooked with all the lights and they'll just cruise back in again. Great work with the ROV, guys.
We're getting so lucky with this renowned huge shark. Really just, you know, so interested in the bait. You must have really stabbed it up good.
Yes.
[laughs]
She's just cruising on the edge of the lights.
But yeah, scientists want to-- oh, what's going on?
Just on the starboard side. Here she comes. She's gonna come in from the--
Another shark?
No, it's the same one.
Same one. She's just turning.
Yeah.
So yeah, scientists want to attach a tag to this shark that will--
She's coming in high.
Coming behind the sub, yeah.
Okay, coming left.
Scientists want to put a camera tag and a satellite tag on these sharks. Allow them to see what they're doing, where they're spending their time, what they're eating. All kinds of things that we have not really been able to study because of how inaccessible these sharks are.
How important are they to the ecosystem?
Take it away, shark expert.
No, you've been doing a great job.
Well, they're the apex predator down here. So having them in such healthy numbers really just speaks volumes about how healthy the ecosystem is.
Oh, yes.
Here she comes. Nosy.
It's another one. There's another one.
There's two?
Oh, that's smaller.
Yeah, there is.
There's another one.
Yeah.
We got double shark time. Wow.
Wow.
It's really shark o'clock over here.
Yeah, we've also seen the last couple of nights, when you get more than one shark at the same time, the big sharks, they're very dominant, and the small ones will disappear quite quickly. And it's very obvious when a larger shark comes into the area 'cause they just scan past them.
The only predators the sharks have are each other. So if you're a smaller six-gill, a big six-gill is, like, kind of scary, very sus.
Yeah.
But yeah, they're mostly scavengers. Is that correct?
Yeah. Yeah, yeah. So they are ambush predators. They do scavenge. They're opportunistic.
So I would imagine that helps keep the ecosystem pretty healthy too.
Yeah, yeah. Definitely.
[laughs]
Hard to sex from this angle, but we've been seeing mostly females, haven't we?
Yeah, yeah, we've pretty much seen--
Any reason why?
We have no idea. I mean, one of the things about deep-sea sharks, it is hard to study them. And so being able to get to do so from a sub is something that we're very privileged to be able to do.
There she is.
Coming back.
Incoming.
Getting to see them in situ, or getting to see them in their environment like this, is a really cool, rare opportunity. So yeah, we don't really know that much about their population structures and dynamics.
There's a lot of unanswered questions about these sharks, which is why it's so important to have scientists study them like this. It's a real treat for science to have ROVs and submarines at their disposal. The local scientists here that are working with "Ocean Explorer," they're pretty stoked, to be honest. Getting tags in these kind of sharks before was less than ideal. They would catch them at depth and pull them up to the surface, put tags in them. And the experience kind of messed with their behavior for several days. And it was traumatic for the sharks, so to be able to attempt to tag them down here and observe them down here is a really special opportunity for scientists. And are they gonna come back around or...
It's around there somewhere.
Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Oh.
And we've also got the other sub-- the filming sub's on the left-hand side of the scene. She sat there with all the lights on, and she gets a much better view as well because she can look out into the dark and see what's going on.
So the subs down here are not just trying to do science. There's a--like Buck was saying, there's a media sub. So that sub is gonna give people a really unprecedented look at these sharks. And they've never really been filmed like this before. They've just spent so much time down here over the past couple days filming them in different locations around the Azores. And it's a treat for people who tune to National Geographic Channel, too, in the future. If you stumbled upon us while scrolling absentmindedly, what up? We're watching sharks. Lucky you, you came at the best time. There's two sharks circling these submarines. And you've probably never seen a shot like this before. So, like, don't keep scrolling. Just keep watching. Unless you hate fish and sharks. Then just please--by all means.
You can't sit with us.
And they're not that scary, really, are they?
No.
Beautiful, not scary.
Sharks are friends.
Aren't they also called cow sharks, these sharks?
Yes.
Yeah, see, like, cute name, cute sharks. What's not to love?
You're a shark expert yourself. Why am I here? You can take my job.
Hardly. I'm just what you call a shark stan. Big fan of the sharks. [device beeps]
Screaming.
Is that the shark alarm?
Yup.
Perfect. Code red on the shark alarm.
Perfect.
Melissa, how can you tell what sex they are?
Shark.
Oh!
Shark incoming.
Look, it was a shark alarm.
Yeah. Where is he?
Come on, baby. On the left.
Okay, bottom left. Thank you. Can you go left? All right, gotcha.
The bottom left.
Yeah.
So welcome to my TED Talk, where I talk about shark claspers, AKA shark penises. That is how you can tell whether a shark is a female or a male. They basically have the two extensions of their pelvic fins, which are the fins beneath their body. Yeah.
Yeah.
And so you have two of them because there are two pelvic fins. And they're shark penises. There you go. I did literally a TED Talk...
Penises?
About them. Penises.
Penis eye?
Penis eye, maybe, yes.
Penis eye.
Peen eye. [laughter]
All right, moving on.
We keep it classy here at National Geographic.
And anyway, girls don't have those, so let's get--
That's how we can tell whether they're...
Boys have two. Girls don't have any.
Boys or girls. Mm-mm.
And the girls are bigger, right?
Girls do tend to be bigger, yes. This is why they are the queens of the ocean down here.
We saw one a couple of days ago, and she was so wide, so wide. You know, it'd be great to be able to do an ultrasound to see if she had pups inside.
Yeah, she--there are some big sharks here. Absolutely gorgeous. And it's really interesting 'cause the subs are about eight tons.
Yep.
Yep, eight tons. And these sharks can bump 'em and move 'em like nothing. So that tells you how strong they are.
Nose underneath, a quick flick of the tail, and--
Yeah, pretty much.
Yeah.
Must be fun for those in the sub.
Oh, incoming. Port side.
There we go, baby.
Yeah, just about to come to the light.
Coming from the left-hand side.
There she is.
Here we go.
Yeah. Oh, this is--
Hey, girl, hey.
If she turns now onto the bait, this will be a great tagging opportunity.
Come on.
Turn, turn, turn.
Come on, baby girl.
Come on.
She's thinking about it.
Yes! all: Come on.
Girl.
This could be--
Get it, get it, get it.
No! You tease.
[laughs] She's like, "Nah, forget it."
She's smart.
And you have to be so careful with those triggers and not get trigger-happy. And it's so frustrating 'cause you can see the lasers coming under the shark, but, you know, you need--
You've got to get her in the perfect spot.
Right place so it's safe for the shark and you know the tag's gonna stay on, so...
They only really have, like, one shot. They can't reload.
Two.
Oh, well, for each tag. Yeah. But there's no reloading down there. They have to come back up.
And it takes hours to come back up and reload everything.
Oh, went pretty good. Hour and a half now.
Ooh.
No, no, that's how long it took last time.
[laughs]
Trust me, I was there. I know how long.
If you're just tuning in, we just saw a six-gill shark, and it was so awesome. And we're hoping she comes back. She's, like, the size of the sub. And yeah, we're here in the Azores. We are--how deep are we?
231 meters.
231 meters down, which is hardly as deep as these sharks can go. They can go how deep?
700? Is that what you said?
Over 1,000 feet deep. These sharks hang out super deep. And scientists think they come up to the shallower waters to feed. But there's lots of unanswered questions about these sharks 'cause they're very mysterious; they're very hard to study because they spend so much time in the deep. And that is why we have a submersible down here trying to tag them and answer these questions. And, like, just, you know, check out cool sharks, 'cause who doesn't like to do that? You clearly do. You're tuning in to this. So hey. Welcome to the party.
How many people are in that sub?
Three people.
There's three people in each sub. Yeah. So the science one has two scientists and a pilot. And the media one has a director, cameraperson, and a pilot as well, so...
So can you explain where the media sub is right now? I don't think we can see it.
No, it's probably--the media sub's down there. We're creating an arena. So we have the ROV up above, the "Neptune," which is the science sub with the lights on that you can see there, And then the media sub "Nadir" to the port side. Now, she's completely blacked out so the sharks-- and they will tend to ignore her. And so we're creating this arena of light. The sharks are coming in. We've got the bait there. So they cruise in. They get the scent. And we place that based on experience so that we, you know, try and get them to line up in front of the tagging devices so we can get those tags in. Now it's the waiting game.
If you're thinking that the people in the subs have the best jobs in the world, you're right, they do.
Thanks. But don't tell my boss that, 'cause he'll cut our pay.
[laughs]
But these ROV boys are quite lucky as well 'cause they get to do the same, but...
I was gonna say.
They can eat popcorn.
They can go for a cup of tea halfway through.
And the bathroom. [laughter]
Yeah, Buck, do you want to explain how the bathroom works in the sub?
Bathroom. Okay. We can do liquids. But we're not very good at solids. So just bear that in mind when you come in. It's not very discreet. If you imagine three of you in an acrylic sphere with an internal dimension of two meters.
Cameras everywhere.
Cameras everywhere. You hold up a little towel for a little, you know, discretion, to be discreet there. But we have these things called TravelJohns, and they're unisex. And they turn urine into-- I would say--it's meant to smell nice, but I would say acceptable-smelling gel.
Oh.
Yes. So you can then handle it in a semi-hygienic way. But yes. It's funny, though. We--you know, eight, ten hours in the sub, people think, "Oh, my God, what do you do?" And I tell people to stay hydrated. The chemical reaction to take out the carbon dioxide 'cause you're in a sealed unit actually dehydrates you. And so you can come out with a headache. So if you just treat it as, you know, a normal day, you know, sat here, drink normally, and it's a time machine. You jump in for a seven-hour dive, and it goes like a flash.
Wow.
It really does, so... And hopefully we're gonna get you in next couple of days.
Oh, I hope so. That'll be so cool.
[laughs] That will be good.
Yeah.
Get some shark action.
Would literally die.
[laughs] Right, come on, sharks. Keep seeing shadows, but it's just the smaller fish casting big shadows down there.
There's still plenty of bait down there. That's why the other fish are still circling so close. So there's good enough reason for the sharks to come back.
And although those fish along the bait tube are eating our bait, they're actually stirring it up. So they're doing a good job to send the fish and blood into the water column and get it out there as a scent trail.
And compared to the past couple days, like, this is not even that many fish. There's been swarms of fish surrounding the subs the past couple nights. Like, so much that they could barely see through them to find a shark.
Yeah. Olaf, explain what it does to your instruments, you know, when you've got that many fish in your--
Well, we have a altimeter on the bottom-- or a DVL on the bottom of that ROV, and if fish swim underneath, it does, like, tend to give us a false return on the acoustics, so it can push the ROV off into a different direction [indistinct] or give us a false return on a altitude, which then can kick us up or down. Yes.
I got shouted at by Buck for coming down too quickly. [laughter] Come down five meters.
That's because--
That's not five meters!
That's 'cause they think you're gonna squish the sphere when we see your-- everybody thinks of an ROV as quite a small vehicle, but imagine a minivan coming at you at 20 miles an hour and you're sat on the bottom of the seabed in this delicate little plastic sphere. And you know that Olaf and Euan are upstairs with big smiles on their faces. [laughter] It adds to the excitement, anyway.
ROV, stop.
Stop, stop, stop. [laughter]
And the bag is full. [laughter]
So where are these sharks? Come on.
Yeah, sharks. Giving us a little tease. If you missed it before, there were two huge sharks. We're not bluffing. They were here. So we're just playing the waiting game and keeping an eye out for anything else that wants to show up. The past couple nights, random animals have shown up. There was a mola mola just hanging out, which was quite a sight to see at depth. And yeah, I want to see some more sharks, though, 'cause they're kind of what's popping down here.
Yeah. I think the most amazing scene this week was, I was sat in the media sub filming, looking up, seeing the other sub and the ROV, which is pretty amazing anyway. And you get this whole arena. And as you say, the mola mola just gliding in. And then a six-gill underneath. And you have to pinch yourself because it's just completely unreal.
That's so cool.
Yeah, absolutely amazing. We're in a special place here. Really are.
Yeah, it's no coincidence that there's so much awesome life here. The protections for this particular seamount, the Condor seamount, and the surrounding waters are really good. And so when you protect marine ecosystems, this is what you get. Tons of fish, tons of sharks. Perfect balance. Sometimes so many fish that you can't see the sharks. But that's fine 'cause that's what we want to see when we're not filming, I guess.
We prefer it that way.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Even if it makes filming a little more difficult.
Very often, we'll get to seamounts and all you'll find is very little life and just fishing gear everywhere on the bottom. And it's just--it's soul-destroying.
And litter.
Yeah, litter--beer bottles...
Pick up your litter.
Plastic and--yeah, it's-- whereas this is amazing. Yeah. Beautiful.
Mm-hmm. Worth staying up late for.
Yeah, definitely. Yeah, those guys will be probably getting into the chocolate stash by now. And they've got their--they've had their evening meal which Kirstie and the girls would have prepared. But they'll be getting five into the chocolate and playing the waiting game.
How good is the meal on board the subs?
How good? It's a meal. It's great.
It's amazing.
The people who go in the subs bring plenty of snacks 'cause they're down there for a while, and, you know, watching sharks eat chum I guess makes you hungry.
It's not the healthiest environment because you just sit there and eat food all day and you don't actually move very much, so...
All right.
Just need those sharks to pick up on the scent trail now.
Why don't you zoom in on the seafloor a little bit? We can talk about the corals. Is that possible?
What? Corals?
Yeah.
Yeah, we can just zoom in on that.
So yeah, if you see those long thin strands coming from the seabed, those are whip corals. And then the yellow ones I believe are sea fans. There's a purple sponge down there somewhere. I lost track of it, but, like, you guys have your eyes on the screen. Find it.
It's actually right by--it's right by the chum flute there somewhere, that purple one is.
Oh, yeah.
And don't worry about what you see with the plastic drum and the plastic tube. Everything we take down, we bring back up again. And very often, we'll bring trash back up with us if we see it and we've got space to put it on the subs or the ROVs, so....
Yeah.
We generally bring back more than we take down.
The ROVs and the subs have mechanical arms that they can use to pick stuff up and pass stuff to each other, which is very funny to see, honestly.
Can you give us a wave with your arm?
I can give you a wave with the arm.
Oh, yeah.
Try not to scratch the camera lens.
Without scratching the camera lens.
Yeah.
Maybe we should bring the camera in a little bit.
See, Jamie's gonna shout at me now for suggesting that 'cause he's--
Well, we just need to retract it on its tray a little bit.
Yeah. And you know this is when the shark--
The shark will come.
Exactly.
Zooming out and straightening up.
So each of the subs have one arm each, but the ROV has two arms.
Do you want to--turn the head in. [indistinct radio chatter] Keep the camera in the light.
That's just the subs talking there, so... What's that, Lee?
Zoom out.
Was it shark or not?
Mm?
Any sharky or not?
He's asking for permission to turn on the ROV lights.
Oh, okay. [indistinct radio chatter] That's the--you can hear in the background the two subs talking to each other. And then we can talk to them in mission control. And then we also have a tracking system so we know where the two subs are. We know where the ROV is and the ship can follow all the different assets around the seabed.
What's that?
What are we looking at?
Zoom in center. Hold on, there's, like, a-- oh, maybe it's gone. It was, like, a very long fish. Maybe my eyes were just playing tricks on me.
No, gonna wait until the arm's moved.
So we're coming up towards the end of our time together. So if you stumbled upon this, thanks for watching. And if you appreciate sharks and fish as much as we do, then you're really cool; we should hang out.
And Euan's just gonna give us a little wave with his arm. Does that mean it's a goodbye wave?
There it is.
There it is.
Hey!
The claw. [laughter]
Aw.
There you go.
Bye-bye.
Bye-bye.