OceanXplorers (2024) s01e03 Episode Script
Jurassic Shark
[James Cameron] The Ocean.
the last frontier on earth.
So much is unexplored
and unexplained.
To change that
a kickass team of insanely
talented specialists is
setting out to push the
frontiers of what we know
about our oceans.
[Zoleka Filander] Oh my gosh.
[James Cameron] Zoleka Filander,
deep sea scientist.
[Zoleka Filander] Being a
deep-sea researcher means
having front row tickets to
the best movie that everybody
wants to watch.
[James Cameron]
Melissa Márquez
[Melissa Márquez]
Straight ahead, 12:00.
[James Cameron]
Shark biologist.
[Melissa Márquez] We just saw
what no one has seen before.
[James Cameron]
Eric Stackpole
[Eric Stackpole] Scan now!
[James Cameron] Ocean
tech innovator.
[Eric Stackpole] I love
building tools that allow us
to see things in ways
we've never seen before.
[gasps]
[James Cameron] And Aldo Kane
[Aldo Kane] This is insane.
[James Cameron] Former
Royal Marine; special ops.
[Aldo Kane] It doesn't get
any more cutting-edge
exploration than this.
[James Cameron]
Their secret weapon
the OceanXplorer.
The most technologically
advanced research vessel
ever built.
There's never been a more
urgent need to understand
our ocean and the animals
that call it home
Because their lives
and ours depend on it.
This time the team
takes on a deep-sea shark.
[Melissa Márquez] She's huge.
[James Cameron] And get closer
than they ever imagined.
[Melissa Márquez] Oh
she just hit the sub.
[theme music plays]
[seagulls cawing]
[James Cameron] The OceanXplorer
is in the Azores.
A group of volcanic islands
in the middle of
the Atlantic Ocean,
1,000 miles
west of Portugal.
For this mission, the team
is heading into the deep.
To uncover the secrets
of one of the ocean's
most elusive creatures.
The sixgill shark.
These animals live at
depths of over 4,000 feet
and are so perfectly adapted
to the abyss, it's believed
they've barely evolved
in 200 million years
they're as old
as the dinosaurs.
Sixgill sharks are secretive,
I've spent hundreds
of hours in subs,
I've only ever caught glimpses.
They can live so deep they're
really difficult to study,
so the team is here to push
the scientific frontiers of
what we know about
these animals.
[Captain] We will be rolling
the subs out in just a
couple of minutes.
[James Cameron] To reveal the
shark's mysteries, the team
will make a series of dives
into the sixgill's world.
[Eric Stackpole] I've always
been fascinated by the deep
because it is so unusual,
it has this feeling of being
scary but your curiosity
makes you go anyway.
[Captain] Move into
position for the sub launch.
[James Cameron] Their ultimate
goal is to tag a shark
in an ambitious plan.
[Zolenka Filander] Nobody has
managed to tag a sixgill shark
from a sub at depth and get
the data back, so what we're
doing here is really
pushing the boundaries.
[Captain] Ready
for passengers.
[James Cameron] Melissa Márquez
studied sharks for her PhD,
but she's never come
face to face with a sixgill.
[Melissa Márquez] I'm gonna be
a little intimidated if I've got
a sixgill coming
straight at us in the sub.
I mean these big animals and
it definitely, if it wants to
clamp on to some part of the
sub and shake us around a bit.
Just through here?
[Pilot] Just this way, up the
steps, sit here hands either
side and lower yourself down.
[Melissa Márquez] So yeah
a little bit nervous of getting
up close and personal with them
but really, really excited.
[James Cameron] The team is
joining forces with Jorge Fontes
and Pedro Afonso,
shark scientists from the
University of the Azores.
[Pedro Afonso] There's
amazingly little known about
these creatures, in spite
of the fact that they are
the top predator.
Right can I
[Pilot] Yeah, just put your
feet there and then down
on to the seat.
It's good.
[James Cameron] The first
mission is to observe these
well-adapted sixgills, which
survive in a cold, dark world
of intense pressure and to get
an idea of how many there are
in this area.
[OceanX Crew] Clear!
[Pilot] Neptune hatch secure,
life support running,
safety brief complete,
ready for the water.
[Pedro Afonso] It's
really happening.
[Melissa Márquez] It is.
[Pilot] You ever
been in a sub before?
[Pedro Afonso] Nope, my first.
[James Cameron] It's 10:30 pm.
Pedro knows where the sharks
hang out at night, but until
now he hasn't had a
chance to go there.
[Pilot] Ok bridge all ready.
[OceanX Crew] All stations
SO, launching Neptune.
[James Cameron] We know that
the sharks spend their days in
the depths of the ocean, and
that every sunset they start
an epic three hour journey
nearly 1,800 feet up
to this island ledge.
Melissa and Pedro are
hoping to meet them there.
[Melissa Márquez] Down here
light barely penetrates,
and temperatures are
just above freezing.
[Pilot] See the bottom?
- Yep, yep.
- Yeah, really close
[Pedro Afonso] Now we see it.
OK here we go.
[Melissa Márquez] Just so much
biomass here, there's got to
be some sort of
nutrient rich water here,
some sort of upwelling,
to explain just how much we've
got going on right now.
[James Cameron] Melissa and
Pedro will stake out this
ledge for eight hours.
Just 20 minutes in, a shape
emerges out of the darkness.
[Melissa Márquez] Shark,
shark, shark,
[Pilot] OK, here we go
Port side, port side.
[James Cameron]
A sixgill shark.
[Melissa Márquez] That's huge!
Adult, definitely an adult,
about 15 feet long.
[Pedro Afonso] Female, no yeah
[Melissa Márquez] Yeah female.
[James Cameron] Males are
identified by their claspers,
their sexual organs
under the pelvic fin.
[Melissa Márquez] It's so
interesting,
that she's so sluggish.
Guess she is conserving her
energy, I mean it's cold out
there, it's only 39 degrees.
[James Cameron] The sixgill
is different from almost
all modern sharks.
It has six pairs of gills,
instead of the more normal five.
A relic from the ancient
conditions they evolved in.
[Pedro Afonso] They really look
like a prehistoric creature.
[Melissa Márquez] Literally
unchanged since the Jurassic,
perfectly adapted.
Sixgill sharks are the
masters of the deep,
they've got specialized eyes
that actually allow them to see
in really low light
conditions down there
and that area is pretty hypoxic,
so there's
not that much oxygen.
So their blood is actually
adapted to being able to
extract more oxygen from its
surroundings, so these animals
can actually
thrive down there.
[James Cameron] This close
encounter is a good start,
but we need to know more
about these Jurassic sharks.
[James Cameron] No one knows
how many sixgills are living
here so Melissa and Pedro
are carrying out a population
survey throughout the night.
[Pedro Afonso] Think it
is, yes, it's coming.
[Melissa Márquez] Do you see it?
Oh yes, yes there it is.
[Pedro Afonso] Yep.
It's coming.
[Melissa Márquez] Ohhh shark.
[Pedro Afonso] Shark?
[Melissa Márquez] Yep.
[Pedro Afonso] A small one
Ah not so small.
[Melissa Márquez]
No, not so small.
These sharks were showing
all different types
of personalities.
She's under.
She's under.
[Pilot] A hell of a big shark.
[Melissa Márquez] Some were
really interested in the sub.
[Pedro Afonso]
That's a big tail.
[Melissa Márquez]
Woohoo, it's really close.
[Pedro Afonso] You
can feel the power.
[Melissa Márquez] Some
wanted nothing to do with it.
[James Cameron] As the hours
go by, they count 11 sixgills,
one juvenile male
and ten females.
[Melissa Márquez] It's
interesting that we haven't
really seen any males here,
just that one, it's mostly
just been females, no boys
allowed, females only hangout.
[James Cameron] Shark mating
be violent and outside the
breeding season many species
of shark carry out segregation
of the sexes, it looks like
this could be happening here.
Our team has confirmed that
this is a sixgill hotspot.
Now the likely reason they
come here is to feed,
but how are they hunting?
To find that out the team is
attempting to tag a sixgill
from a sub.
The submersible team has
fitted the tag deployment rig.
[Pilot] Set of lasers here,
and that will give you an
approximate position
within a few centimeters.
[Zolenka Filander] The
whole team is feeling tons of
pressure, because there's
so many things that could
go wrong, when doing
this from a sub.
[Eric Stackpole] Everything's
got to line up perfectly to
make sure we get this
once in a lifetime shot.
[James Cameron] There's only
been one previous attempt to
tag a sixgill from a sub, but
the data was never recovered.
For this mission,
Pedro and Jorge have developed
a hi-tech prototype.
[Pedro Afonso] These
electronic tags allow us to go
much further into a window
onto their behavior,
they combine very, very fine
scale sensors that tell you
the movements of the animals.
[James Cameron] Succeeding
in this mission, will mean
getting even
closer to the sharks.
All the planning has come down
to this dive, the pressure is on
for Melissa and sixgill
researcher Jorge Fontes.
[Jorge Fones] We just need to
find the right shark with the
right attitude.
That has to be confident and
get in the right place at the
right time, so the
tension builds up.
[James Cameron] The tagging
system is carefully primed,
ready for firing.
[OceanX Crew]
I think we're good.
[Eric Stackpole] Ok
guys what do you think?
[OceanX Crew] Yeah looks good.
[Eric Stackpole] This is
gonna be shark bait, this is
basically the way that we're
gonna get the sixgills to come
towards the sub
Oh god that's gross
I'm gonna smell for days.
[OceanX Crew] All stations,
all stations SO.
Launching Neptune.
[James Cameron] The sub is
diving in parallel with the ROV,
the Remotely Operated Vehicle,
which sends a live
feed back to the control room,
where the rest of the
team can watch and hope.
[Eric Stackpole]
There it is, lower right.
[Zolenka Filander] Observing
animals in the deep is
one thing, but trying
to tag one at depth,
that's a different
ball game altogether.
[James Cameron] As the sub
descends to the sharks' hangout,
they encounter a
shoal of boarfish.
[Melissa Márquez] Wow.
[Pilot] Woah, look at that.
[Melissa Márquez] It's a
really dense aggregation,
the lights of the sub could be
illuminating the plankton they
feed on and
they've come in to eat.
[Jorge Fones] These guys
are bait fish, everybody
eats these guys.
[Melissa Márquez] Have you
ever seen so many fishies?
[Pilot] At very very few
places, this is pretty wild.
[Eric Stackpole] These
boarfish are everywhere.
[Zolenka Filander] Yeah.
Feeding frenzy.
[Eric Stackpole] Is it just cos
of the bait, it's got to be.
[Zolenka Filander]
Could be the lights.
[Pilot] Control, Neptune I have
you loud and clear
on bottom 255 meters.
[Control] Copy Neptune.
[Pilot] OK I'm
gonna hand that to you.
[James Cameron] It's midnight
and the sharks have completed
their journeys from the deep,
but will they come
towards the sub?
[mysterious music]
[Melissa Márquez]
Come on big mamma.
[mysterious music]
Hey, you guys we got a shark,
yeah coming in coming in,
it's coming this way.
[Zolenka Filander] Wow.
[Eric Stackpole] OK
well here we are.
[Melissa Márquez] I love how
she's really just taking her
time just
assessing the situation.
[Eric Stackpole] It doesn't seem
super excited about the bait.
[Zolenka Filander] I
wonder what's distracting it.
[Melissa Márquez] Come this way.
[Pedro Afonso] Come on.
[James Cameron] This adult
female has detected a morsel
of fallen bait, and avoids
going up to the sub to feed.
[Melissa Márquez] Oh
you're kidding me.
You cheeky girl.
[Eric Stackpole] The sub team
must be so frustrated right now.
[Zolenka Filander]
I'm frustrated.
[laughs].
[Melissa Márquez] I have
lost sight of her.
Oh big shark!
There's two.
[Eric Stackpole] Oh
there's two of them now.
Oh my gosh.
[Jorge Fones] Well that might
get them competing for the bait.
[James Cameron] Sixgills will
congregate if there's food
around, and that can lead
to aggressive behavior.
[Melissa Márquez] OK we've got
that second one right there.
[Jorge Fones] OK.
[slam]
[Melissa Márquez] Woah,
she just hit the sub.
[Pilot] It just hit the sub.
[Jorge Fones]
He's under the sub.
[Melissa Márquez] Ohh it is mad.
[whistles].
[James Cameron] With a shark
in direct competition, this
female has made it clear
she is large and in charge.
[Pilot] You're not armed.
When you want to be
armed you let me know.
[Jorge Fones]
This is a good time.
It would be a good time now.
[Melissa Márquez]
Come on come on.
[Pilot] Ok lasers are on.
[Jorge Fones] Number one right?
[Pilot] Alright, it's armed.
[Eric Stackpole] OK this
could be it.
[Melissa Márquez] Alright
it's heading this way.
[Jorge Fones] Slow.
[Eric Stackpole] He's gonna
take it, he's gonna take it,
take the shot.
[click]
[Jorge Fones] Ah damn it.
[Eric Stackpole] Oh!
[Melissa Márquez] Huh,
I can't believe it.
[James Cameron] Jorge overshot
by a matter of inches.
[Melissa Márquez]
We're not done!
[Pilot] We have one spare.
[James Cameron] If they
can't get this tag on,
they will fail in their mission.
[Melissa Márquez]
Oh there we go.
[James Cameron] Another sixgill,
this one is alone and
she's focused on the bait.
[Jorge Fones]
Smell that nice blood.
- Yeah there you go.
- Yeah!
[James Cameron] The shark
needs to follow the end of the
pole to the bait, and line up
precisely in the laser beam.
[Jorge Fones]
This is a big shark.
[Eric Stackpole]
This is it, you got this.
[Pilot] Wait until
you see the lasers.
[Eric Stackpole] This is it.
[Melissa Márquez] Right here
come this way this way this way.
[click]
[Pilot] Nice one.
Camera tag away,
camera tag away.
[Melissa Márquez] You did it!
[Eric Stackpole] They got it.
It's tagged.
- Oh yeah.
- Hey, hey.
[slap, laughing]
[Zolenka Filander] Wow.
[James Cameron]
The tag is suspended
six feet above the shark,
they can now,
for the first time,
follow its movements in
detail through the deep.
[Eric Stackpole] Here, here's
a shark coming right towards us
and I think that's the tag.
This is the one we were
holding just moments ago
this was in our
lab up on the desk.
[Pedro Afonso]
That's really cool.
[Eric Stackpole] I'm really
excited, we've successfully
tagged a shark,
and if all the electronics
are working properly,
and the software's working
properly, we're recording data
that basically no one
has ever had before.
[James Cameron] But the
shark is in no rush to leave.
[Pilot] You're
back for more huh?
[Melissa Márquez] You can,
you can have some fish yes.
[Zolenka Filander] Look at
her eye, look at it roll back.
Sixgill sharks don't have that
nictitating membrane so they
need a way to somewhat protect
their eye, just in case the
prey fights back.
[James Cameron] The tag
won't hurt the shark
its sensors record speed,
depth and movement,
for the next 12 hours,
then it detaches and
floats to the surface.
But if the team
can't recover it,
they won't find out how
the sixgills are hunting.
[seagulls cawing]
[James Cameron] The next day,
the tag has surfaced and
pinged a satellite
with its GPS coordinates.
[Aldo Kane] So I'm going out
to collect the tag, if I can't
get the tag, then all that
data will be lost,
and that means all the hard
work of tagging the shark
will be in vain.
[James Cameron] The precious
tag is being swept dangerously
close to the cliffs.
[Pedro Afonso] Guys.
Keep your eyes
on the water now.
[Aldo Kane] Tag, tag.
[Driver] OK Aldo I'll get on
the starboard side of it so
you grab it on portside.
[Aldo Kane] Yeah.
Do you see it?
[Driver] Yeah seen.
[Jorge Fones] Oh man
this is close huh?
[James Cameron] Aldo has one
chance to pluck the tag
from the swell.
[Jorge Fones] Alright. Alright.
[Aldo Kane] There we go.
[Jorge Fones] Good job, man.
[Aldo Kane] Good job.
[James Cameron] The tag has
been successfully retrieved,
but what's it
going to show us?
The information from the
sixgill tag has been processed
and the results are
ready to be revealed.
[Melissa Márquez] What
have you got for us?
[Eric Stackpole] I have
got some of the best footage
captured from our many
hours of shark exploration.
Shall we hit it maestro,
ok here we go.
So this obviously is
the light from the sub
as seen from the shark.
[Melissa Márquez]
That's the sea floor.
[Eric Stackpole] And I noticed
in some other parts of the
footage, you can actually see
the fish scattering
[Melissa Márquez] Yeah.
[Eric Stackpole] As
the shark moved through.
This is kind of how the
shark sees it, you know so
you almost get, you get in
the mind of the shark.
There's Jorge.
[laughs].
[Melissa Márquez] I've taken
so many pictures of sharks in
my studies, now a
shark's taking my picture!
[Eric Stackpole] Now it's
chomping down on the bait.
[Jorge Fones] The motion
sensors on the tag will detect
when the shark is eating,
even if you don't have video.
[Eric Stackpole] Oh right
because it's bobbing
up and down.
[James Cameron] But can the
other sensors reveal how the
shark may be hunting here?
[Jorge Fones] Here on the
top line, will be depth.
So we can see that from here
he was going away from
the sub for periods,
because he's going deeper and
then he's coming back up,
then he's going deeper,
he's coming back up.
So, he's roaming,
he's exploring.
Then you can see as we go over,
that this is a big climb.
[Melissa Márquez] Yep.
[Jorge Fones] You know it's
climbed up to 200 meters, then
it goes back down again, and
then the nice thing is towards
the end of the deployment it
just starts going down and
this is when
sun is about to rise.
[Melissa Márquez] Sunrises.
[Eric Stackpole] So as the
sun's coming up the last thing
we see this shark doing is going
down deeper into the abyss.
[Jorge Fones] Straight down.
Here you have speed, so you
can see speed changed
you know, varied a little bit.
[Eric Stackpole] Do you see a
few places like here and here
where the speed increases
rapidly for a moment.
What do you think
happened there?
[Melissa Márquez]
Could it be predation?
[Jorge Fones] Could be.
[Eric Stackpole] And you know
it's interesting that it's
coming up because I know
a lot of these predators,
they look for silhouettes.
I mean I guess there's no
light at this point I thought
maybe it could
[Jorge Fones] Maybe enough for
them, you know, just moonlight
is enough for them to
see a silhouette
[Eric Stackpole] Wow.
[Jorge Fones] Because they
have very sensitive eyes.
[Eric Stackpole] So, so it
could have come from below,
seen its prey come up, eaten
it, that's what this spike is
then it's gone back
down or something.
[Jorge Fones] It could be.
[James Cameron] The shark's
upward movements are intriguing
and may be helped
by its huge oil filled liver,
that accounts for over
20% of its body mass
and makes it buoyant.
This buoyancy could be
behind its hunting strategy.
[Melissa Márquez] Some
scientists suggest that
sixgills are ambush predators
gliding up to capture their
prey, they just
hit 'em from below.
[Eric Stackpole] Yeah I mean
we know from their gut content
that they're mostly eating things
- that are way faster than they are.
- [Jorge Fones] Yeah.
[Eric Stackpole] So stealth
gliding to sneak up on their
prey makes a lot of sense.
[James Cameron] The tag
results suggest an interesting
hypothesis on how the
shark may be hunting,
but our guys
need more information.
Can they capture footage of a
sixgill actually predating?
To give themselves the best
chance, they have to time
their dive perfectly to
when there's maximum prey.
We know that at night many
creatures come up to feed.
A mass vertical migration occurs
in all the world's oceans,
triggered by the
rise of plankton,
fish, jellies and
squid travel through
the ocean's twilight zone,
and following them,
larger creatures.
If they can hit the peak
of this vertical migration,
Melissa and Pedro may have
a chance of recording
a sixgill on the hunt.
[Pedro Afonso] Keep that
biologist's sharp eye on
the camera, yeah?
[Melissa Márquez] No pressure.
[James Cameron] Aldo's also
preparing a dive, but his will
be in the shallows, to
understand the scale of the
vertical migration in
the Azores.
As a former special ops
Royal Marine,
Aldo is the only
member of the team
with the experience to
lead this night dive.
[Aldo Kane] When you have moving
boats and diving operations
and then you add into the
mix nighttime operations
you can quickly and
easily lose control of things.
[James Cameron] It's 11:30pm,
only if they've timed
their dive perfectly,
will they fully experience
the vertical migration.
[OceanX Crew] OK guys are
you ready, so 3, 2, 1 go.
[splashing]
[James Cameron] Guided in the
darkness by his dive computer,
Aldo descends 60 feet.
Immediately he's engulfed by
the smallest creatures
in the ocean,
the plankton, that underlie
the entire food chain.
[Aldo Kane] This is the
vertical migration that
we're talking about,
all of these fish coming in
to feed on the plankton
which has made its way
up to the surface.
It's amazing, look at all the
fish coming in below us now.
[James Cameron] Tonight,
the rise of the plankton is
followed by something else
purple stinger jellyfish.
[Aldo Kane] It's amazing
seeing them all migrating
up to the surface.
[James Cameron] What appears
to be a few at first,
grows into a mass bloom.
[Aldo Kane] I've never
seen anything like this.
This is literally thousands
and thousands of jellies.
It's one of the strangest
things I've ever seen,
they're just stunningly
beautiful, ha-ha in its own way
[James Cameron] The vertical
migration is at its peak.
The deeper waters are now
rich with shoals of fish,
and the ledge where the sharks
make their nightly visits,
is a hive of activity.
It's dinner time.
[Pedro Afonso]
It's an Angler fish.
See that's the lure, look.
[Melissa Márquez] Oh yeah.
[Pedro Afonso] He's
lifting the lure right.
[Melissa Márquez]
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[Pedro Afonso] See
he's waving the lure.
[Melissa Márquez] Yeah.
[Pedro Afonso] That's what he
uses to attract the prey, then.
A bunch of rays around.
[Melissa Márquez]
That's so cool.
We just saw a predation.
[James Cameron] Conger eels
rely on the vertical migration
for food.
[Pedro Afonso] They're in
feeding mode, that's for sure.
[Melissa Márquez] Yeah.
Actually, being down in the
sub and putting faces to the
animals that make up this
migration, you've got fish
eating smaller fish, you've
got the skates and the rays
burying themselves and
eating their own fish.
This happens on a massive
scale, every single night in
our ocean and the fact that
I got to kind of sit in the
middle of it and observe
it all is mind-blowing.
[James Cameron] These large
creatures are perfect prey for
sixgills, but can the team film
the sharks actually hunting?
[mysterious music]
This female has completed
her three hour journey
up from the depths.
[Melissa Márquez] There we go,
now it's coming a
little bit closer.
Yeah cos I got her on camera.
[Pedro Afonso] Yeah she is.
[James Cameron] She's
staying close to the seafloor.
[mysterious music]
[Pilot] Something's
got her interest.
[James Cameron] A conger eel.
[mysterious music]
The conger eel escapes,
but this sixgill is on the prowl
and she's not the only one
interested in the seabed.
[Melissa Márquez]
Oop, there we go.
[Pilot] Yeah, yeah.
[Melissa Márquez] She's
really low to the ground.
[James Cameron] Like all sharks,
sixgills have highly sensitive
electrical sensors
around the nose,
which can detect the smallest
muscle twitch of its prey.
She may be seeking rays
hiding out under the sand.
Suddenly she makes a move.
She thrusts with her tail,
to get on top of the prey.
[Melissa Márquez] Do you
see anything in its mouth?
[James Cameron] Capturing
this behavior on camera
is incredibly special
and will help the
team understand how
this top predator hunts.
[Pedro Afonso] Oh man
that is quite something.
See why we want to
study these guys?
[Melissa Márquez]
Yeah of course.
As a scientist you always hope
you get to experience the
rare and extraordinary,
it doesn't get much
rarer than this.
[Aldo Kane] That footage is
incredible, has that been
filmed before?
[Melissa Márquez] No we don't
think so, which makes it even
more exciting, because it's
probably a first for science
and you know you don't
really get that that often.
You know the data from the tag
was telling us one thing,
but our own eyes are
telling us something
completely different.
[Eric Stackpole] Right on the
tag data I assumed it was like
an ambush predator where it
sees maybe like the silhouette
from below, it
snatches its prey.
[Melissa Márquez] But that's
not what we saw here,
it's using its positive buoyancy
to actually lift up its rear end
so its nose eventually
actually points down in to the
sand once it finds prey and
with that really powerful tail
grind down into the sand.
[Aldo Kane] So it's using its
positive buoyancy to,
to glide up the gradient and
then pin whatever it is,
the ray, down in to the sea bed.
[Melissa Márquez] That's it
and that's not to negate the
theory that we got from the
tag it just means they might
be using different hunting
tactics for different prey.
It's mind blowing to see a
brand new to science data point
that we didn't have
for these animals before.
[Eric Stackpole] I'd call this
a pretty successful mission.
[Melissa Márquez]
Oh 100%! 100%.
[James Cameron] In their
time here, the team has gained
important new insights into the
lives of the sixgill sharks.
They've observed how they're
perfectly adapted to the abyss.
[Melissa Márquez] It's so
interesting seeing them be
so sluggish.
[James Cameron] Discovered
their different personalities.
[Melissa Márquez]
You cheeky girl.
[James Cameron] And confirmed
that a large population of
females live here.
[Melissa Márquez] Only a
handful of people have been
able to see these sharks
from a sub, at depth,
with their own eyes, I feel
really lucky to be one of them.
[Eric Stackpole]
There it is, lower right.
[James Cameron] By
successfully tagging a sixgill
from a sub
- You did it!
- Oh yeah.
[James Cameron] They've
gained a whole new set
of scientific data.
[Eric Stackpole]
This is awesome guys.
What we've done has paved the
way for sixgill research and
it has been awesome to be
a part of this mission.
[James Cameron] They've
explored these rich waters of
the Azores at night.
[Aldo Kane] It's one of the
strangest things I've ever seen.
Being in the middle of
that vertical migration
was just unbelievable.
[James Cameron] The
greatest achievement,
has been capturing the
sixgill's predation behavior.
[Zolenka Filander] We know so
little about the residents of
the deep, but today we have
gained some valuable insights
on how these prehistoric
animals have survived.
[James Cameron] Some of the
sixgill's secrets have been
uncovered, but there's still
so much more to learn
about these mysterious
sharks of the abyss.
the last frontier on earth.
So much is unexplored
and unexplained.
To change that
a kickass team of insanely
talented specialists is
setting out to push the
frontiers of what we know
about our oceans.
[Zoleka Filander] Oh my gosh.
[James Cameron] Zoleka Filander,
deep sea scientist.
[Zoleka Filander] Being a
deep-sea researcher means
having front row tickets to
the best movie that everybody
wants to watch.
[James Cameron]
Melissa Márquez
[Melissa Márquez]
Straight ahead, 12:00.
[James Cameron]
Shark biologist.
[Melissa Márquez] We just saw
what no one has seen before.
[James Cameron]
Eric Stackpole
[Eric Stackpole] Scan now!
[James Cameron] Ocean
tech innovator.
[Eric Stackpole] I love
building tools that allow us
to see things in ways
we've never seen before.
[gasps]
[James Cameron] And Aldo Kane
[Aldo Kane] This is insane.
[James Cameron] Former
Royal Marine; special ops.
[Aldo Kane] It doesn't get
any more cutting-edge
exploration than this.
[James Cameron]
Their secret weapon
the OceanXplorer.
The most technologically
advanced research vessel
ever built.
There's never been a more
urgent need to understand
our ocean and the animals
that call it home
Because their lives
and ours depend on it.
This time the team
takes on a deep-sea shark.
[Melissa Márquez] She's huge.
[James Cameron] And get closer
than they ever imagined.
[Melissa Márquez] Oh
she just hit the sub.
[theme music plays]
[seagulls cawing]
[James Cameron] The OceanXplorer
is in the Azores.
A group of volcanic islands
in the middle of
the Atlantic Ocean,
1,000 miles
west of Portugal.
For this mission, the team
is heading into the deep.
To uncover the secrets
of one of the ocean's
most elusive creatures.
The sixgill shark.
These animals live at
depths of over 4,000 feet
and are so perfectly adapted
to the abyss, it's believed
they've barely evolved
in 200 million years
they're as old
as the dinosaurs.
Sixgill sharks are secretive,
I've spent hundreds
of hours in subs,
I've only ever caught glimpses.
They can live so deep they're
really difficult to study,
so the team is here to push
the scientific frontiers of
what we know about
these animals.
[Captain] We will be rolling
the subs out in just a
couple of minutes.
[James Cameron] To reveal the
shark's mysteries, the team
will make a series of dives
into the sixgill's world.
[Eric Stackpole] I've always
been fascinated by the deep
because it is so unusual,
it has this feeling of being
scary but your curiosity
makes you go anyway.
[Captain] Move into
position for the sub launch.
[James Cameron] Their ultimate
goal is to tag a shark
in an ambitious plan.
[Zolenka Filander] Nobody has
managed to tag a sixgill shark
from a sub at depth and get
the data back, so what we're
doing here is really
pushing the boundaries.
[Captain] Ready
for passengers.
[James Cameron] Melissa Márquez
studied sharks for her PhD,
but she's never come
face to face with a sixgill.
[Melissa Márquez] I'm gonna be
a little intimidated if I've got
a sixgill coming
straight at us in the sub.
I mean these big animals and
it definitely, if it wants to
clamp on to some part of the
sub and shake us around a bit.
Just through here?
[Pilot] Just this way, up the
steps, sit here hands either
side and lower yourself down.
[Melissa Márquez] So yeah
a little bit nervous of getting
up close and personal with them
but really, really excited.
[James Cameron] The team is
joining forces with Jorge Fontes
and Pedro Afonso,
shark scientists from the
University of the Azores.
[Pedro Afonso] There's
amazingly little known about
these creatures, in spite
of the fact that they are
the top predator.
Right can I
[Pilot] Yeah, just put your
feet there and then down
on to the seat.
It's good.
[James Cameron] The first
mission is to observe these
well-adapted sixgills, which
survive in a cold, dark world
of intense pressure and to get
an idea of how many there are
in this area.
[OceanX Crew] Clear!
[Pilot] Neptune hatch secure,
life support running,
safety brief complete,
ready for the water.
[Pedro Afonso] It's
really happening.
[Melissa Márquez] It is.
[Pilot] You ever
been in a sub before?
[Pedro Afonso] Nope, my first.
[James Cameron] It's 10:30 pm.
Pedro knows where the sharks
hang out at night, but until
now he hasn't had a
chance to go there.
[Pilot] Ok bridge all ready.
[OceanX Crew] All stations
SO, launching Neptune.
[James Cameron] We know that
the sharks spend their days in
the depths of the ocean, and
that every sunset they start
an epic three hour journey
nearly 1,800 feet up
to this island ledge.
Melissa and Pedro are
hoping to meet them there.
[Melissa Márquez] Down here
light barely penetrates,
and temperatures are
just above freezing.
[Pilot] See the bottom?
- Yep, yep.
- Yeah, really close
[Pedro Afonso] Now we see it.
OK here we go.
[Melissa Márquez] Just so much
biomass here, there's got to
be some sort of
nutrient rich water here,
some sort of upwelling,
to explain just how much we've
got going on right now.
[James Cameron] Melissa and
Pedro will stake out this
ledge for eight hours.
Just 20 minutes in, a shape
emerges out of the darkness.
[Melissa Márquez] Shark,
shark, shark,
[Pilot] OK, here we go
Port side, port side.
[James Cameron]
A sixgill shark.
[Melissa Márquez] That's huge!
Adult, definitely an adult,
about 15 feet long.
[Pedro Afonso] Female, no yeah
[Melissa Márquez] Yeah female.
[James Cameron] Males are
identified by their claspers,
their sexual organs
under the pelvic fin.
[Melissa Márquez] It's so
interesting,
that she's so sluggish.
Guess she is conserving her
energy, I mean it's cold out
there, it's only 39 degrees.
[James Cameron] The sixgill
is different from almost
all modern sharks.
It has six pairs of gills,
instead of the more normal five.
A relic from the ancient
conditions they evolved in.
[Pedro Afonso] They really look
like a prehistoric creature.
[Melissa Márquez] Literally
unchanged since the Jurassic,
perfectly adapted.
Sixgill sharks are the
masters of the deep,
they've got specialized eyes
that actually allow them to see
in really low light
conditions down there
and that area is pretty hypoxic,
so there's
not that much oxygen.
So their blood is actually
adapted to being able to
extract more oxygen from its
surroundings, so these animals
can actually
thrive down there.
[James Cameron] This close
encounter is a good start,
but we need to know more
about these Jurassic sharks.
[James Cameron] No one knows
how many sixgills are living
here so Melissa and Pedro
are carrying out a population
survey throughout the night.
[Pedro Afonso] Think it
is, yes, it's coming.
[Melissa Márquez] Do you see it?
Oh yes, yes there it is.
[Pedro Afonso] Yep.
It's coming.
[Melissa Márquez] Ohhh shark.
[Pedro Afonso] Shark?
[Melissa Márquez] Yep.
[Pedro Afonso] A small one
Ah not so small.
[Melissa Márquez]
No, not so small.
These sharks were showing
all different types
of personalities.
She's under.
She's under.
[Pilot] A hell of a big shark.
[Melissa Márquez] Some were
really interested in the sub.
[Pedro Afonso]
That's a big tail.
[Melissa Márquez]
Woohoo, it's really close.
[Pedro Afonso] You
can feel the power.
[Melissa Márquez] Some
wanted nothing to do with it.
[James Cameron] As the hours
go by, they count 11 sixgills,
one juvenile male
and ten females.
[Melissa Márquez] It's
interesting that we haven't
really seen any males here,
just that one, it's mostly
just been females, no boys
allowed, females only hangout.
[James Cameron] Shark mating
be violent and outside the
breeding season many species
of shark carry out segregation
of the sexes, it looks like
this could be happening here.
Our team has confirmed that
this is a sixgill hotspot.
Now the likely reason they
come here is to feed,
but how are they hunting?
To find that out the team is
attempting to tag a sixgill
from a sub.
The submersible team has
fitted the tag deployment rig.
[Pilot] Set of lasers here,
and that will give you an
approximate position
within a few centimeters.
[Zolenka Filander] The
whole team is feeling tons of
pressure, because there's
so many things that could
go wrong, when doing
this from a sub.
[Eric Stackpole] Everything's
got to line up perfectly to
make sure we get this
once in a lifetime shot.
[James Cameron] There's only
been one previous attempt to
tag a sixgill from a sub, but
the data was never recovered.
For this mission,
Pedro and Jorge have developed
a hi-tech prototype.
[Pedro Afonso] These
electronic tags allow us to go
much further into a window
onto their behavior,
they combine very, very fine
scale sensors that tell you
the movements of the animals.
[James Cameron] Succeeding
in this mission, will mean
getting even
closer to the sharks.
All the planning has come down
to this dive, the pressure is on
for Melissa and sixgill
researcher Jorge Fontes.
[Jorge Fones] We just need to
find the right shark with the
right attitude.
That has to be confident and
get in the right place at the
right time, so the
tension builds up.
[James Cameron] The tagging
system is carefully primed,
ready for firing.
[OceanX Crew]
I think we're good.
[Eric Stackpole] Ok
guys what do you think?
[OceanX Crew] Yeah looks good.
[Eric Stackpole] This is
gonna be shark bait, this is
basically the way that we're
gonna get the sixgills to come
towards the sub
Oh god that's gross
I'm gonna smell for days.
[OceanX Crew] All stations,
all stations SO.
Launching Neptune.
[James Cameron] The sub is
diving in parallel with the ROV,
the Remotely Operated Vehicle,
which sends a live
feed back to the control room,
where the rest of the
team can watch and hope.
[Eric Stackpole]
There it is, lower right.
[Zolenka Filander] Observing
animals in the deep is
one thing, but trying
to tag one at depth,
that's a different
ball game altogether.
[James Cameron] As the sub
descends to the sharks' hangout,
they encounter a
shoal of boarfish.
[Melissa Márquez] Wow.
[Pilot] Woah, look at that.
[Melissa Márquez] It's a
really dense aggregation,
the lights of the sub could be
illuminating the plankton they
feed on and
they've come in to eat.
[Jorge Fones] These guys
are bait fish, everybody
eats these guys.
[Melissa Márquez] Have you
ever seen so many fishies?
[Pilot] At very very few
places, this is pretty wild.
[Eric Stackpole] These
boarfish are everywhere.
[Zolenka Filander] Yeah.
Feeding frenzy.
[Eric Stackpole] Is it just cos
of the bait, it's got to be.
[Zolenka Filander]
Could be the lights.
[Pilot] Control, Neptune I have
you loud and clear
on bottom 255 meters.
[Control] Copy Neptune.
[Pilot] OK I'm
gonna hand that to you.
[James Cameron] It's midnight
and the sharks have completed
their journeys from the deep,
but will they come
towards the sub?
[mysterious music]
[Melissa Márquez]
Come on big mamma.
[mysterious music]
Hey, you guys we got a shark,
yeah coming in coming in,
it's coming this way.
[Zolenka Filander] Wow.
[Eric Stackpole] OK
well here we are.
[Melissa Márquez] I love how
she's really just taking her
time just
assessing the situation.
[Eric Stackpole] It doesn't seem
super excited about the bait.
[Zolenka Filander] I
wonder what's distracting it.
[Melissa Márquez] Come this way.
[Pedro Afonso] Come on.
[James Cameron] This adult
female has detected a morsel
of fallen bait, and avoids
going up to the sub to feed.
[Melissa Márquez] Oh
you're kidding me.
You cheeky girl.
[Eric Stackpole] The sub team
must be so frustrated right now.
[Zolenka Filander]
I'm frustrated.
[laughs].
[Melissa Márquez] I have
lost sight of her.
Oh big shark!
There's two.
[Eric Stackpole] Oh
there's two of them now.
Oh my gosh.
[Jorge Fones] Well that might
get them competing for the bait.
[James Cameron] Sixgills will
congregate if there's food
around, and that can lead
to aggressive behavior.
[Melissa Márquez] OK we've got
that second one right there.
[Jorge Fones] OK.
[slam]
[Melissa Márquez] Woah,
she just hit the sub.
[Pilot] It just hit the sub.
[Jorge Fones]
He's under the sub.
[Melissa Márquez] Ohh it is mad.
[whistles].
[James Cameron] With a shark
in direct competition, this
female has made it clear
she is large and in charge.
[Pilot] You're not armed.
When you want to be
armed you let me know.
[Jorge Fones]
This is a good time.
It would be a good time now.
[Melissa Márquez]
Come on come on.
[Pilot] Ok lasers are on.
[Jorge Fones] Number one right?
[Pilot] Alright, it's armed.
[Eric Stackpole] OK this
could be it.
[Melissa Márquez] Alright
it's heading this way.
[Jorge Fones] Slow.
[Eric Stackpole] He's gonna
take it, he's gonna take it,
take the shot.
[click]
[Jorge Fones] Ah damn it.
[Eric Stackpole] Oh!
[Melissa Márquez] Huh,
I can't believe it.
[James Cameron] Jorge overshot
by a matter of inches.
[Melissa Márquez]
We're not done!
[Pilot] We have one spare.
[James Cameron] If they
can't get this tag on,
they will fail in their mission.
[Melissa Márquez]
Oh there we go.
[James Cameron] Another sixgill,
this one is alone and
she's focused on the bait.
[Jorge Fones]
Smell that nice blood.
- Yeah there you go.
- Yeah!
[James Cameron] The shark
needs to follow the end of the
pole to the bait, and line up
precisely in the laser beam.
[Jorge Fones]
This is a big shark.
[Eric Stackpole]
This is it, you got this.
[Pilot] Wait until
you see the lasers.
[Eric Stackpole] This is it.
[Melissa Márquez] Right here
come this way this way this way.
[click]
[Pilot] Nice one.
Camera tag away,
camera tag away.
[Melissa Márquez] You did it!
[Eric Stackpole] They got it.
It's tagged.
- Oh yeah.
- Hey, hey.
[slap, laughing]
[Zolenka Filander] Wow.
[James Cameron]
The tag is suspended
six feet above the shark,
they can now,
for the first time,
follow its movements in
detail through the deep.
[Eric Stackpole] Here, here's
a shark coming right towards us
and I think that's the tag.
This is the one we were
holding just moments ago
this was in our
lab up on the desk.
[Pedro Afonso]
That's really cool.
[Eric Stackpole] I'm really
excited, we've successfully
tagged a shark,
and if all the electronics
are working properly,
and the software's working
properly, we're recording data
that basically no one
has ever had before.
[James Cameron] But the
shark is in no rush to leave.
[Pilot] You're
back for more huh?
[Melissa Márquez] You can,
you can have some fish yes.
[Zolenka Filander] Look at
her eye, look at it roll back.
Sixgill sharks don't have that
nictitating membrane so they
need a way to somewhat protect
their eye, just in case the
prey fights back.
[James Cameron] The tag
won't hurt the shark
its sensors record speed,
depth and movement,
for the next 12 hours,
then it detaches and
floats to the surface.
But if the team
can't recover it,
they won't find out how
the sixgills are hunting.
[seagulls cawing]
[James Cameron] The next day,
the tag has surfaced and
pinged a satellite
with its GPS coordinates.
[Aldo Kane] So I'm going out
to collect the tag, if I can't
get the tag, then all that
data will be lost,
and that means all the hard
work of tagging the shark
will be in vain.
[James Cameron] The precious
tag is being swept dangerously
close to the cliffs.
[Pedro Afonso] Guys.
Keep your eyes
on the water now.
[Aldo Kane] Tag, tag.
[Driver] OK Aldo I'll get on
the starboard side of it so
you grab it on portside.
[Aldo Kane] Yeah.
Do you see it?
[Driver] Yeah seen.
[Jorge Fones] Oh man
this is close huh?
[James Cameron] Aldo has one
chance to pluck the tag
from the swell.
[Jorge Fones] Alright. Alright.
[Aldo Kane] There we go.
[Jorge Fones] Good job, man.
[Aldo Kane] Good job.
[James Cameron] The tag has
been successfully retrieved,
but what's it
going to show us?
The information from the
sixgill tag has been processed
and the results are
ready to be revealed.
[Melissa Márquez] What
have you got for us?
[Eric Stackpole] I have
got some of the best footage
captured from our many
hours of shark exploration.
Shall we hit it maestro,
ok here we go.
So this obviously is
the light from the sub
as seen from the shark.
[Melissa Márquez]
That's the sea floor.
[Eric Stackpole] And I noticed
in some other parts of the
footage, you can actually see
the fish scattering
[Melissa Márquez] Yeah.
[Eric Stackpole] As
the shark moved through.
This is kind of how the
shark sees it, you know so
you almost get, you get in
the mind of the shark.
There's Jorge.
[laughs].
[Melissa Márquez] I've taken
so many pictures of sharks in
my studies, now a
shark's taking my picture!
[Eric Stackpole] Now it's
chomping down on the bait.
[Jorge Fones] The motion
sensors on the tag will detect
when the shark is eating,
even if you don't have video.
[Eric Stackpole] Oh right
because it's bobbing
up and down.
[James Cameron] But can the
other sensors reveal how the
shark may be hunting here?
[Jorge Fones] Here on the
top line, will be depth.
So we can see that from here
he was going away from
the sub for periods,
because he's going deeper and
then he's coming back up,
then he's going deeper,
he's coming back up.
So, he's roaming,
he's exploring.
Then you can see as we go over,
that this is a big climb.
[Melissa Márquez] Yep.
[Jorge Fones] You know it's
climbed up to 200 meters, then
it goes back down again, and
then the nice thing is towards
the end of the deployment it
just starts going down and
this is when
sun is about to rise.
[Melissa Márquez] Sunrises.
[Eric Stackpole] So as the
sun's coming up the last thing
we see this shark doing is going
down deeper into the abyss.
[Jorge Fones] Straight down.
Here you have speed, so you
can see speed changed
you know, varied a little bit.
[Eric Stackpole] Do you see a
few places like here and here
where the speed increases
rapidly for a moment.
What do you think
happened there?
[Melissa Márquez]
Could it be predation?
[Jorge Fones] Could be.
[Eric Stackpole] And you know
it's interesting that it's
coming up because I know
a lot of these predators,
they look for silhouettes.
I mean I guess there's no
light at this point I thought
maybe it could
[Jorge Fones] Maybe enough for
them, you know, just moonlight
is enough for them to
see a silhouette
[Eric Stackpole] Wow.
[Jorge Fones] Because they
have very sensitive eyes.
[Eric Stackpole] So, so it
could have come from below,
seen its prey come up, eaten
it, that's what this spike is
then it's gone back
down or something.
[Jorge Fones] It could be.
[James Cameron] The shark's
upward movements are intriguing
and may be helped
by its huge oil filled liver,
that accounts for over
20% of its body mass
and makes it buoyant.
This buoyancy could be
behind its hunting strategy.
[Melissa Márquez] Some
scientists suggest that
sixgills are ambush predators
gliding up to capture their
prey, they just
hit 'em from below.
[Eric Stackpole] Yeah I mean
we know from their gut content
that they're mostly eating things
- that are way faster than they are.
- [Jorge Fones] Yeah.
[Eric Stackpole] So stealth
gliding to sneak up on their
prey makes a lot of sense.
[James Cameron] The tag
results suggest an interesting
hypothesis on how the
shark may be hunting,
but our guys
need more information.
Can they capture footage of a
sixgill actually predating?
To give themselves the best
chance, they have to time
their dive perfectly to
when there's maximum prey.
We know that at night many
creatures come up to feed.
A mass vertical migration occurs
in all the world's oceans,
triggered by the
rise of plankton,
fish, jellies and
squid travel through
the ocean's twilight zone,
and following them,
larger creatures.
If they can hit the peak
of this vertical migration,
Melissa and Pedro may have
a chance of recording
a sixgill on the hunt.
[Pedro Afonso] Keep that
biologist's sharp eye on
the camera, yeah?
[Melissa Márquez] No pressure.
[James Cameron] Aldo's also
preparing a dive, but his will
be in the shallows, to
understand the scale of the
vertical migration in
the Azores.
As a former special ops
Royal Marine,
Aldo is the only
member of the team
with the experience to
lead this night dive.
[Aldo Kane] When you have moving
boats and diving operations
and then you add into the
mix nighttime operations
you can quickly and
easily lose control of things.
[James Cameron] It's 11:30pm,
only if they've timed
their dive perfectly,
will they fully experience
the vertical migration.
[OceanX Crew] OK guys are
you ready, so 3, 2, 1 go.
[splashing]
[James Cameron] Guided in the
darkness by his dive computer,
Aldo descends 60 feet.
Immediately he's engulfed by
the smallest creatures
in the ocean,
the plankton, that underlie
the entire food chain.
[Aldo Kane] This is the
vertical migration that
we're talking about,
all of these fish coming in
to feed on the plankton
which has made its way
up to the surface.
It's amazing, look at all the
fish coming in below us now.
[James Cameron] Tonight,
the rise of the plankton is
followed by something else
purple stinger jellyfish.
[Aldo Kane] It's amazing
seeing them all migrating
up to the surface.
[James Cameron] What appears
to be a few at first,
grows into a mass bloom.
[Aldo Kane] I've never
seen anything like this.
This is literally thousands
and thousands of jellies.
It's one of the strangest
things I've ever seen,
they're just stunningly
beautiful, ha-ha in its own way
[James Cameron] The vertical
migration is at its peak.
The deeper waters are now
rich with shoals of fish,
and the ledge where the sharks
make their nightly visits,
is a hive of activity.
It's dinner time.
[Pedro Afonso]
It's an Angler fish.
See that's the lure, look.
[Melissa Márquez] Oh yeah.
[Pedro Afonso] He's
lifting the lure right.
[Melissa Márquez]
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[Pedro Afonso] See
he's waving the lure.
[Melissa Márquez] Yeah.
[Pedro Afonso] That's what he
uses to attract the prey, then.
A bunch of rays around.
[Melissa Márquez]
That's so cool.
We just saw a predation.
[James Cameron] Conger eels
rely on the vertical migration
for food.
[Pedro Afonso] They're in
feeding mode, that's for sure.
[Melissa Márquez] Yeah.
Actually, being down in the
sub and putting faces to the
animals that make up this
migration, you've got fish
eating smaller fish, you've
got the skates and the rays
burying themselves and
eating their own fish.
This happens on a massive
scale, every single night in
our ocean and the fact that
I got to kind of sit in the
middle of it and observe
it all is mind-blowing.
[James Cameron] These large
creatures are perfect prey for
sixgills, but can the team film
the sharks actually hunting?
[mysterious music]
This female has completed
her three hour journey
up from the depths.
[Melissa Márquez] There we go,
now it's coming a
little bit closer.
Yeah cos I got her on camera.
[Pedro Afonso] Yeah she is.
[James Cameron] She's
staying close to the seafloor.
[mysterious music]
[Pilot] Something's
got her interest.
[James Cameron] A conger eel.
[mysterious music]
The conger eel escapes,
but this sixgill is on the prowl
and she's not the only one
interested in the seabed.
[Melissa Márquez]
Oop, there we go.
[Pilot] Yeah, yeah.
[Melissa Márquez] She's
really low to the ground.
[James Cameron] Like all sharks,
sixgills have highly sensitive
electrical sensors
around the nose,
which can detect the smallest
muscle twitch of its prey.
She may be seeking rays
hiding out under the sand.
Suddenly she makes a move.
She thrusts with her tail,
to get on top of the prey.
[Melissa Márquez] Do you
see anything in its mouth?
[James Cameron] Capturing
this behavior on camera
is incredibly special
and will help the
team understand how
this top predator hunts.
[Pedro Afonso] Oh man
that is quite something.
See why we want to
study these guys?
[Melissa Márquez]
Yeah of course.
As a scientist you always hope
you get to experience the
rare and extraordinary,
it doesn't get much
rarer than this.
[Aldo Kane] That footage is
incredible, has that been
filmed before?
[Melissa Márquez] No we don't
think so, which makes it even
more exciting, because it's
probably a first for science
and you know you don't
really get that that often.
You know the data from the tag
was telling us one thing,
but our own eyes are
telling us something
completely different.
[Eric Stackpole] Right on the
tag data I assumed it was like
an ambush predator where it
sees maybe like the silhouette
from below, it
snatches its prey.
[Melissa Márquez] But that's
not what we saw here,
it's using its positive buoyancy
to actually lift up its rear end
so its nose eventually
actually points down in to the
sand once it finds prey and
with that really powerful tail
grind down into the sand.
[Aldo Kane] So it's using its
positive buoyancy to,
to glide up the gradient and
then pin whatever it is,
the ray, down in to the sea bed.
[Melissa Márquez] That's it
and that's not to negate the
theory that we got from the
tag it just means they might
be using different hunting
tactics for different prey.
It's mind blowing to see a
brand new to science data point
that we didn't have
for these animals before.
[Eric Stackpole] I'd call this
a pretty successful mission.
[Melissa Márquez]
Oh 100%! 100%.
[James Cameron] In their
time here, the team has gained
important new insights into the
lives of the sixgill sharks.
They've observed how they're
perfectly adapted to the abyss.
[Melissa Márquez] It's so
interesting seeing them be
so sluggish.
[James Cameron] Discovered
their different personalities.
[Melissa Márquez]
You cheeky girl.
[James Cameron] And confirmed
that a large population of
females live here.
[Melissa Márquez] Only a
handful of people have been
able to see these sharks
from a sub, at depth,
with their own eyes, I feel
really lucky to be one of them.
[Eric Stackpole]
There it is, lower right.
[James Cameron] By
successfully tagging a sixgill
from a sub
- You did it!
- Oh yeah.
[James Cameron] They've
gained a whole new set
of scientific data.
[Eric Stackpole]
This is awesome guys.
What we've done has paved the
way for sixgill research and
it has been awesome to be
a part of this mission.
[James Cameron] They've
explored these rich waters of
the Azores at night.
[Aldo Kane] It's one of the
strangest things I've ever seen.
Being in the middle of
that vertical migration
was just unbelievable.
[James Cameron] The
greatest achievement,
has been capturing the
sixgill's predation behavior.
[Zolenka Filander] We know so
little about the residents of
the deep, but today we have
gained some valuable insights
on how these prehistoric
animals have survived.
[James Cameron] Some of the
sixgill's secrets have been
uncovered, but there's still
so much more to learn
about these mysterious
sharks of the abyss.