On the barren surfaces of the ocean depths, feasts like this one aren’t very common. But, when they happen, there’s food for everyone!
And, this was caught on camera- the research team was surprised when they saw a feeding frenzy of deep-sea sharks.
The researchers never imagined they would see how shark are the prey of other deep sea creature. The video was shared by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and shows how the hungry wreckfish feasted on some tasty deep sea sharks.
This was definitely the dinner of dinners, don’t you agree?
How Did the Shark Become Somebody’s else’s Feast?
The rare footage was caught at around 450 meters near a rise in the sea floor, 130 km off the South Carolina coast.
The remotely operated vehicle Deep Discoverer of the US NOAA caught the 2.5 meter long swordfish chewing on some deep sea sharks.
The marine scientist, Peter J. Auster from the University of Connecticut says that the reason behind the deaths of the majestic sea creatures isn’t entirely clear, maybe it’s illness, maybe it’s age or perhaps an injury of some kind.
This wasn’t a lost catch as there was no hook, trail or fishing line nearby. The sharks were two species of deep sea dogfish that are also know as sleeper shark. The larger ones were probably from the roughskin dogfish species.
The remaining ones belonged to the newly-discovered and named Genie’s dogfish species, named after founder of Mote Marine Laboratory Eugenie Clark.
The massive fish probably sniffed out food or detected the vibrations and decided to come closer and fill up on the foods. They definitely had a lot to see!
The Atlantic wreckfish also came in for the easy meal. They’re aslo called stone bass or bass groper. They can grow up to 2 meters and are frequently living around deep water caves and shipwrecks.
Auster adds that this rare event causes more questions than answers; however, this is the nature of scientific research.
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