Stunning new footage shows the coupleextremely elusive largemouth sharks (Megachasma pelagios) that swim together off the coast of San Diego. Most likely, there is a male and a female in the video. This is one of the few cases when people see these living creatures. In the 50 years since the species was discovered, only 273 observations have been recorded, most of which involved individuals caught in fishing gear. Only five largemouth sharks have been seen swimming freely in the wild. Never before have scientists seen two people swimming together.
Scientists analyzed the footage in a newstudy and suggested that the two sharks were involved in courtship or mating. “The curiosity of these fishermen has benefited science as a whole,” said Zachary Skelton, a graduate student at the University of California, San Diego, and lead author of the study. “The 10 minutes that fishermen spent with the sharks is the only evidence of the social life of largemouth sharks.”
The elusive largemouth shark may grow upup to 5.5 m in length and weigh up to 1 215 kg. These bulbous-headed creatures are filter feeders that sift food from the water captured by their huge mouths. However, despite their size and distinctive features, largemouth sharks were not found until 1976.
Two megamouth sharks were caught on video for the first time. Image courtesy of David Stabile
To better understand the behavior of largemouth sharks,Skelton and his colleagues analyzed the footage in light of what they found in the literature about the social behavior of other filter-feeding sharks, such as basking sharks (Cetorhinus maximus) and whale sharks (Rhincodon typus). “Because the encounter was so short, we have to rely on other studies and species to understand why the sharks were on the surface, why they were together, and why in this particular location,” Skelton concludes.
Considering that the male was closely following,presumably a female shark and that both were not attempting to feed, the researchers concluded that the footage likely reflected courtship. The results of the study were published in the journal Environmental Biology of Fishes.
The social behavior of these sharks is stillremains something like a black box for scientists, and such observations are of interest, giving rise to many questions and theories that can be studied in the future.
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