Rarely observing “Sharktopus” leaves stunned and surprised

Maritime biologist Rochelle Constantine and her research team encountered something completely unexpected during a research journey with the northern coast of New Zealand – a view that left them absolutely stunned.

While observing a short Mako sailing floating through the waters in December 2023, something strange caught their eyes.

“He had a really large, orange, brown shape on his head,” Constantine, who recently has released a discovery in the post on the bloghe said This is happening Host Nil Köksal.

“We are like:” Oh, is it entangled in the fear (or) any fishing equipment? Or maybe (it) had damage, because injuries often have unusual colors under water. ”

To reach his bottom, the team directed Łódź closer to the shark, placed the drone to shots in the air and got stuck in Gopro water to take a closer look.

What they discovered was far from what they expected: the mysterious drop was actually Maori octopus adjacent to the head of the shark.

“It definitely worked to keep a very limitation at the top,” said Constantine, a professor of biological sciences at the University of Auckland. “You could see Macka … from time to time to send.”

The team did not take much time to give an amazing duo a name.

“He was named almost immediately on the water,” said Constantine. “Sharktopus”.

Very unlikely pair

The Maori octopus, the largest octopus in the southern hemisphere, lives deep below and lives at the sea bottom, says Constantine.

Meanwhile, the Mako shark usually flows higher in central water, diving onto the great depths, but rarely, if at all, approaching the bottom of the ocean.

“How they actually found is the biggest secret,” said Constantine. “They have very different worlds.”

Constantine says that scientists can only speculate about what connected them.

“I think that as long as the octopus stays away from Mako Shark's mouth, they are probably definitely buddies,” she said.

Biologist Marine University of Victoria Verena Tunnniffe, who was not involved in the expedition, claims that the octopus probably had a victim of a shark and hid on his back.

“This is a very bright animal – where is the safest place? (I), I hope that he will be able to go down without a notification,” said Tunnnicliffe.

“I can't imagine that they think it will be joy, but you never know.”

Keeping this secret

Although, how Sharktopus became a mystery, the meeting aroused wide interest around the world.

Watch Film material from the University of Auckland shows Sharktopus in advance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Cylbarkmdy

And Constantine is everything to talk and attention, which “Sharktopus” generated.

“AND I really loved it all over the world and all these languages, people say: “Well, what is it? Why should they be? What is happening?”

For Constantine, an unexpected meeting serves as a reminder of how much we have to find out about the ocean and its amazing creatures, one sec Recording us to be a better manager.

“The lives of these animals are much more than we perceive them,” she said.

“I think it applies to everything in the ocean. I really want people to just stop and wonder how much we don't know how cool the ocean is and how important it is for us.”