Elusive and extremely rare dogfish captured in stunning video

Great whites might be the jumbo stars of the shark world, but there are some equally fascinating members on the other end of the size spectrum. The crew of the research ship Falkor experienced the wonders of the deep when they spotted “one of the rarest shark species in the world” during a recent Schmidt Ocean Institute mission.

Shark expert Will White with the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, Australia’s national scientific research agency, has identified the short-tailed cat shark Parmaturus bigus from a video captured while exploring the Great Barrier. Corallina on October 17th. good look at the big eyed creature.

Although you can relax and enjoy hours of underwater footage and scientific commentary, the shark appears a little over two hours in this video. “It’s a shark!” comment the scientists as they zoom in.

The researchers collected a single specimen of Parmaturus bigus, which is found in the Australian National Fish Collection. The one spotted lying on the sand was a male estimated to be around 20 inches (50 cm) long. The remote controlled vehicle was able to follow him as he swam.

Even better, ocean researchers found they had filmed another specimen during a dive in May, but had not identified it at the time. The team also found footage of a case of short-tailed catfish eggs, providing scientists with a wealth of new information about the species and its habitat.

“Thanks to the efforts of the Falkor team, we now have three more records of one of the rarest sharks in the world,” Schmidt Ocean said in a statement Monday, which includes “the first footage of a living specimen.”

Schmidt Ocean expeditions have given us some extraordinary views of the wonders of the deep in recent years, from to incredibly bizarre siphonophore to a savage “benthic tornado. “The cat shark fits this impressive record of discovery perfectly.