It might sound like the lead-in to a horror movie, but this story is 100% true! Marine scientists working in the waters surrounding the Solomon Islands lowered a video camera into the acidic and uncomfortably warm waters within the mouth, or caldera, of the Kavachi underwater volcano. This was a scary project from the start.
Lead researcher Brennan Phillips noted, “Absolutely we were scared; Kavachi is usually erupting.” In the past, divers attempting to explore the caldera have had to give up because of the unbearable water temperatures, and because of mild skin burns sustained from the acidic materials present. As with this critter discovered in the deep waters off the coast of Puerto Rico, sometimes its just not possible for a human explorer to enter uncharted territory.
On this particular mission, Phillips and his team lowered a submarine camera into the volcano during a rare dormant period, and took an hour’s worth of video footage. They expected to get some good footage of adaptive animals living in Kavachi, but what they saw was truly amazing. Rather than a few hardy-but-simple organisms, the team found large, complex creatures living in the hostile atmosphere, including skates and two species of shark! As in the case with this deep-water black seadevil footage, we're glad no humans got too close to these particular critters.
The team posits that the hammerhead and silky sharks living inside of Kavachi’s mouth must have some kind of evolutionary mutation that allows them to withstand the extreme conditions, and are hoping for further opportunities to study these remarkably tough predators.
If you loved this wild-but-true nature story, please SHARE on facebook!
