In a beautifully ironical tale , an submerged automaton design to document bully white shark feed behavior has been stunningly assail by these Fish , offering scientist the first notice of below Earth’s surface predatory behaviour for the species .
Sure , there ’s no shortage of incredible videos of great white shark attacks around – a brief hunt on YouTube will bring up plenty . But scientists wanted to make out more about what goes on below the waves , something that previous studies have overleap . That ’s where the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution’sREMUS SharkCamhas come in , an autonomous submersed vehicle ( AUV ) deployed back in 2013 off the coast of Mexico ’s Guadalupe Island .
" Most of what we get it on about white shark predatory behaviour comes from surface reflection . We have all seen film or footage of shark surge out of the water system to enchant a seal , " lead investigator Greg Skomal suppose in a command . " But we wanted to find out what was materialize at astuteness – when the sharks drown into the thick , how were these brute conduct ? Were they hunt ? The REMUS AUV was the perfect tool to do this . "
During six research missions throughout November that year , REMUS ’ recording equipment prove an invaluable instrument , helping the team go after and stick to four dissimilar gravid Patrick Victor Martindale White , one male and three females . One of these is jolly of a renown in the shark world – " Deep Blue , " a 5.7 - meter - retentive ( 21 - infantry ) animate being that the squad managed to stalk at profoundness of up to 90 meters ( 295 foot ) .
In addition , the camera recorded hours of footage of sharks that the team did not tag , providing a riches of information for the team to scour through . Of the 30 shark - REMUS interactions documented , some consisted of simple approaches out of curiosity , whereas others necessitate a act more position . For case , nine of these outcome involved belligerent attack in which the shark attempted to take a ball out of the equipment .
During these depredation episodes , the animal would often lurk deep below the camera before charging upward in a surprise fire . From this data , the team came to the conclusion that great whites in this area likely exploit the crystal readable water supply to look for prey from the dark depths , appropriate them to remain hold in and then ambush from below , increase the likeliness of attack success . you may translate more about the squad ’s determination in theJournal of Fish Biology .
While enchanting , the oeuvre ’s not over yet : REMUS has already been back for a getting even trip , the footage from which is due to come forth this summer . The team is also planning on using an upgraded mannequin that can go deeper in succeeding missions , hopefully fall in us even more data on the predatory behaviour of this magnificent animal .
