The scientists at the Minderoo-UWA Deep-sea Research Centre, an ocean research centre at the University of Western Australia, could not believe their eyes. It was January 2025 and they were on a mission in the Antarctic Ocean, off the South Shetland Islands, filming the seabed. Suddenly, right before their eyes, in the middle of the glacial waters, a shark appeared.

The shark was at a depth of 490 metres, in water at 1.27 degrees Celsius

This is an extraordinary event: it is the first time that the presence of a specimen at those latitudes has been documented. The discovery was made public only a few days ago, on 18 February, according to the Associated Press.

"It wasn't even a small shark – commented Alan Jamieson, director and founder of the research centre. On the contrary, it was a very large specimen." The shark was in fact between three and four metres long, according to the scientists' calculations. At the moment it was filmed, it was at a depth of 490 metres, an area in permanent darkness since sunlight cannot reach it. And the water was close to freezing point: at that moment the mission members' thermometers were reading 1.27 degrees Celsius.

Further analysis will be needed to determine whether other specimens regularly venture into the area

According to the researchers themselves, the shark was not indifferent to the cold, since the layer in which it was swimming was nonetheless the least frigid layer. Furthermore, it was able to feed on the carcasses present on the seabed, such as those of whales or giant squid (a ray, motionless, can also be glimpsed in the video).

The Associated Press ✓ @AP

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A shark was caught on camera for the first time in Antarctica's near-freezing deep, surprising many experts who had thought sharks didn't exist in the frigid waters. Read more here: bit.ly/4kJK5np

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It is impossible to know whether any shark specimens had previously ventured into such cold waters. The region is particularly remote and researchers do not have a sufficient amount of data (above all, very few analyses have been carried out at depth).

The hypothesis of a role played by climate change

However, the fact that a shark had never previously been sighted in such cold waters may suggest that its presence was also linked to climate change. Just as with the atmosphere, the world's oceans are gradually warming too. These remain hypotheses, however, that will require further studies to be confirmed.