Video shots an octopus riding on the back of a shark She fell in love with a global audience since she was published by researchers at the University of Auckland earlier this week.
AND New Zealand The Ocean expert cohort spotted a unlikely duo, a maor octopus, located at the top of a poppy shark, in the Hauraki Bay during the summer of 2023.
The researchers were looking for fed feeding when they noticed the couple that he was casually driving waves in tandem and playfully coined them “Sharctopus”.
According to Recent blog Rochelle Constantine, a professor of biological sciences at the University of Auckland and one of the researchers who discovered an unusual scene, first noticed a large dorsal feathers, signaling a shark near them. After a more close exam, they noticed a “orange patches on their heads”.
Initially, they assumed it was an injury or that a shark had run into the float. To confirm their doubts, the team released an unmanned spacecraft and threw Goopro the camera into the water. Then they discovered the couple.
“Octopus is located on top of the shark head, clinging to his tentacles,” Constantine wrote.
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“This ‘Sharctopus’ was really a mysterious finding,” she added. “Octopus is mostly on the seabed, while Shortfin Mako Sharks does not favor deep.”
Octopus opted for a quick ride, she explained, since Shortfin is the fastest type of sharks, swimming up to 50 km/h.
Constantine’s area of expertise is the Bay of Hauraki-Tīkapa Moan, and Moananui -ā-Toi studies the behavior of sharks during the summer months.
The bay inhabits and visits many types of sharks, including bronze whales, which divers and fishermen often see in shallow waters and, more often, smooth hammers.
Large types of open oceans like a gloomy shark, a blue shark and a short poppy, “otherwise known as a taxi shark octopus,” joked, were increasingly present in the region.
Blue shark. Photo by Riley Elliott/ University of Auckland.
Photo by Riley Elliott/ University of Auckland
Less is known about smaller sharks living near the seabed, such as lemon fish and native shark, but the global population of sharks are in high decline, due to excessive fishing, climate change and low reproductive rates.
Constantine says the Sharktopus meeting is a reminder of the wonders of the ocean. “
“One of the best things about the sea scientist is that you never know what you could see next in the sea. By supporting the preservation initiatives, we can help to ensure that such extraordinary moments of teaching happen,” she concluded.
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