A team of marine biologists from Florida State University traveled to the Bahamas to do something that had never been achieved before: entering deep waters of the Atlantic Ocean to tag a shark that has remained virtually unchanged for 200 million years. It is the gray canebota.
This shark (Hexanchus griseus), unlike its more evolved relatives, has six gills instead of five. It is a primitive characteristic from the early Jurassic when the ancestors of the sharks evolved for the first time. In addition, based on the fossils of those prehistoric sharks, the gray reedbug has changed very little. The ‘six gills’, as scientists call them, inhabit the depths of the ocean, where the sun’s rays cannot penetrate. The lifestyle of this shark remains a mystery, like many deep-sea creatures.
Previously, scientists managed to get them to the surface to tag and track them, but this action could disorient them and even harm them because they have adapted to the darkness and dynamics of the deep waters (up to 2500 meters below the surface level). Only when night falls, this shark enters shallow water to feed. This is a species of large shark: it grows up to 8 meters (26 feet) in length, with a wide body and bright green eyes, which inhabit the depths of the temperate and tropical seas. Just like his relatives, he hunts live prey and also feeds on the corpses that fall from to the seabed. In addition, he uses his saw-like teeth to tear pieces of meat. off its prey.
