Northwest Dive Club

Nailer, Burntchef, Maverick and I went for a dive at Cove 2 tonight. Maverick had to turn back because he didn't have enough weight in his new rig. He couldn't have picked a worse dive to miss. We ran into a 6 gill shark on the dive, it was possibly 15 feet or so. The video I took was too large to upload to youtube, so keep in mind it'll take some time to download - until I edit the video to be smaller.

Here it is.

One of my favorite parts is when the ratfish swims right into it and then does a 180 about as quick as possible before becoming a snack.

This shark moved so slowly and gracefully, it was beautiful. I'm really surprised it didn't swim off, it just swam and then sank to the bottom and settled at about 110fsw while we watched it.

wow thanks Calvin!! very cool and i am very jelous!
mel

That was so great. I don't have anything to compare that to- looking over and seeing Calvin and Burntchef hovering over that shark.... it was really, really beautifull, the way it moved was so gracefull.....it's skin seemed to glow in our lights. I was in awe of it.

Awesome Calvin. Any dive you see a 6 gill is special.

-Valerie

What a GREAT experience for you guys! I'll bet that Maverick simply freaked when he heard what he had missed!

I notice that this was a mature female, and I also notice that she is NOT tagged, which means that she is not a regular at the feeding station beneath the Seattle Aquarium.

BTW, the next time you encounter a 6-Gill, try as hard as you can to NOT shine your light directly at the eyes. They are deep water animals and their eyes are extremely light sensitive. In the footage it almost appears as though the light directed at her face was driving her.

Odd that she just stopped and lay on the bottom....I've not ever seen one do that.

- John

I thought that 6 gill were not around during the winter months. Is it usual to see one this time of year?

Congrats on seeing this shark! That is very cool!

I think that may be the massive one that lives aroundhere year-round, the line running scooter boys have a name for a large six gill, Lamont? Recognize this one?

Awesome vid Calvin.

[
BTW, the next time you encounter a 6-Gill, try as hard as you can to NOT shine your light directly at the eyes. They are deep water animals and their eyes are extremely light sensitive. In the footage it almost appears as though the light directed at her face was driving her.



i will fess up im the guilty one with the hid light i was just simply stunned and a bit narced so my apologies to our 6 gill friend. next time i will be more carefull.

oh and it was freakin great,

Yeah, it was definitely a mature shark from what I can tell (the sharks I've seen in warmer waters before), it had that 'fattened up' look. JR, do you happen to know how large these things get? Are the females larger or smaller on average than males? Why do you think it was acting the way it was?

GillyWeed, the file is 183MB, so I don't think it'll fit in the email pipes if you know what I mean ](*,)

It is such a big file though that you'll probably need to download it in the background if you have anything less than a screaming connection. It takes a while so just click the link and leave it for a while. If that doesn't work you'll likely have to wait till I get this thing up on youtube.

I too am wondering about seeing it here in the middle of winter. It definitely didn't seem too hungry or aggressive. Maybe it was feasting on baby seals for the last couple months. Boy, those couple ratfish were out of there in a hurry once they realized what they'd come across.

Well, I finally saw this shark, rounding out my must-sees of a GPO, Wolf Eel and Six Gill. I came pretty close that time I decided not to go to the I-beams and Bob came back with that awesome video. I wanted to go right up in front of it on the bottom, but I actually got scared and didn't want to at the last moment (still hovered a few feet above its snout). I guess that would've been like dangling a bit of chicken in front of a lion.

burntchef wrote: i will fess up im the guilty one with the hid light i was just simply stunned and a bit narced so my apologies to our 6 gill friend. next time i will be more carefull.

oh and it was freakin great,

Actually, the shark was probably only irritated briefly and life pretty much returned to normal when you guys, along with your lights, ascended. I mentioned it because Calvin's footage would have probably been even better if he could have shot some facial shots, but so long as that light was there the shark veered away from it. Tail shots, though interesting, are seldom as cool as head shots! I learned about lighting and six-gills over the years the hard way - by losing shots.

So.....now you have dived with a six-gill! Welcome to the fraternity!

- John

Tangfish wrote: Are the females larger or smaller on average than males?

Hi Calvin,

Congrats on the Sixgill sighting. Yes, the females are typically larger than the males. The largest ever captured was just over 16' in length. There's more information about sixgills at www.boydski.com/diving/photos/SixGillShark.htm if you're interested.

I've never seen a sixgill stop like the one in your video, which is very cool. I also like the ratfish that come's up to the shark, looks and says, "Oh sh*t, shark!".

BTW, very nice sixgill shark picture that you're using for your Avatar. Hmmm, looks vaguely familiar. Oh yeah, that's because it's my picture from the article above. At least you have good taste!

Fantastic stuff Calvin .... Thank you

Tangfish wrote:Yeah, it was definitely a mature shark from what I can tell (the sharks I've seen in warmer waters before), it had that 'fattened up' look. JR, do you happen to know how large these things get? Are the females larger or smaller on average than males? Why do you think it was acting the way it was?

You can find a few sources out there that cite the maximum length as 26 feet, although that is now regarded as a typographical error made when early records were being studied. It is now generally accepted that the maximum length attained by this species is 15 to 16 feet, with an average size of between 8 and 12 feet. If the shark you saw was in fact a 15 footer, you most definitely saw a fully mature adult.

Males reach sexual maturity at around 11 feet in length, and females at around 14 feet. Mature females are generally larger than males.

Six-gills are in Puget Sound year round, although far more of them are seen here in the summer and early fall. It is believed that the sharks come into shallower water at that time to breed and pup.

All of the six-gills that I have personally seen were not as letharigic as this one in your film. To simply sink down to the bottom and then stay there with no movement seems odd to me, but I can offer no firm explanation for that behavior.....perhaps illness or nearing the end of life.....perhaps she was simply recovering from a full meal.....OR perhaps she was acting lethargic to lure you young whipper-snappers into CRUNCH AND MUNCH RANGE!

I have submitted an article on the biology of the six-gill shark to Northwest Dive News that SHOULD appear next month.....but that is always up to the publisher to decide. Watch out for it!

- John

Boyski-

Your article mentions summer plankton blooms as one of the possible reasons the sharks come shallower. I wonder if this shark was found in the shallows (relatively speaking) because of the bad vis we've had over the past couple of months . . .

Hah! Sorry Boydski, I did a google search for an image of a sixgill to use for the avatar while posting the video. Thanks for the additional info fellas.

Ok, Ok, maybe the adrenalin may have added a foot or two, but it was *definitely* at least 12 feet, wouldn't you say Nailer, Chef, BJ? .... oh wait, BJ wasn't there! ](*,)

Oh yeah, JR, how did you tell it was a female? Nailer tried to do the ol reach-around to find out but couldn't find the....

Tangfish wrote:Hah! Sorry Boydski, I did a google search for an image of a sixgill to use for the avatar while posting the video. Thanks for the additional info fellas.

Ok, Ok, maybe the adrenalin may have added a foot or two, but it was *definitely* at least 12 feet, wouldn't you say Nailer, Chef, BJ? .... oh wait, BJ wasn't there! ](*,)

Take a look at the ratfish- I'd say he was aroung 2' long. When I use it as a reference, and step his length off mentally along the shark, I'd say he was easilly 12'- perhaps longer, 'cause they have loooong tails!

[ wouldn't you say Nailer, Chef, BJ? .... oh wait, BJ wasn't there! ](*,)[/quote]



OUCH!!!!



but i would say at least 12-14 it was just massive, huge body section and we did have a few verey still minutes to get a good look at it.

wow, so cool... thanks

Tangfish wrote:Oh yeah, JR, how did you tell it was a female? Nailer tried to do the ol reach-around to find out but couldn't find the....

Males have a pair of what are called "claspers" located in the anal area. Basically, they are used to transfer sperm to the female and some people refer to them as "penises", which is not correct.

They basically resemble two elongated sausages with pointed tips. The claspers appear to be joined at their base but then are clearly seperate. They do not "hang" or "dangle" beneath the shark, but instead are flush with the shark's lower belly area and are streamlined with its body.

Here's a link showing a photo of a set of claspers on what I believe is a Blue shark.

http://www.marinebiodiversity.ca/shark/ ... uction.htm

The size and shape of the claspers vary from species to species, but in most species they are quite visible, making the males readily identifiable from the side or below. In your video there isn't even a whisper of a clasper in any of the shots from the side.

Here's a link to an article that explains how sharks "do it":

http://www.elasmo-research.org/educatio ... enises.htm

Marine biology can be intensely interesting, no?

- John

Great video Calvin! What an incredible find! I have shared the link with some friends and family who would enjoy it.

The ol' reach around, eh? Nailer, you know better than that. She'd just met you!

I enjoyed BOTH ratfish that were startled... one "bounced" off the nose and the other off the side. Evidently they weren't too thrilled to see her.

Tangfish wrote:It definitely didn't seem too hungry or aggressive. Maybe it was feasting on baby seals for the last couple months. Boy, those couple ratfish were out of there in a hurry once they realized what they'd come across.

Congratulations guys! I am so jealous!

Besides feasting on naughty divers I have wondered what their feeding habits are, and how one would know that without observation or dissection... I've heard people say that they are carrion feeders... as in "oh don't worry, they only eat dead things... no big deal!" I don't buy it... I have no doubt that they eat carrion, as other sharks do, but I have a hard time beleiving they get that big just finding the occasional dead thing around. They don't filter feed plankton, they are predators!

I can hardly wait for my turn to swim with one someday!

Congratulations Calvin!
That is so Cool!


But where was your Lazer pointer?

Ok, I posted the video to my web site, so GillyWeed can see it if she hasn't already.

The compression makes it pretty crappy. I need to edit it properly, but you can see the general shape and size.