LONDON: In a rather revolutionary study, researchers from the University of Tokyo and University of Hawaii, Manoa, have found two unique species of deep-sea sharks that are buoyant and do not drown if they stop swimming.
The research, published in the journal PLOS One on June 10, has found that the prickly shark and the bluntnose sixgill shark, are positively buoyant. The researchers concluded if the sharks were neutrally, positively or negatively buoyant by observing the animals’ speed, tail beat frequency, heading and body orientation.
The researchers found that due to this positive buoyancy, the sharks had to swim harder when they swam downward than when they went up. In fact, when these sharks ascended, they could also glide for minutes together without the need to use their tail. In order to gauge the swimming performance of the sharks as they swam up and down, the researchers used an accelerometer.
The study also included mounting a camera on a deep-sea shark in order to study how these deep-sea creatures lived in their habitat. The researchers observed that during the daytime, these sharks lived in the deeper part of the sea, where the water was cold and had the effect of cooling their swimming muscles, making them sluggish swimmers.
The results of the present study refute previous shark research, wherein these creatures were believed to be neutrally buoyant. To confirm the present findings, the researchers conducted two sets of experiment, both of which reinforced the fact that few sharks are positively buoyant.
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