• Email Us: [email protected]
  • Contact Us: +1 718 874 1545
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Medical Market Report

  • Home
  • All Reports
  • About Us
  • Contact Us

Scientists Dropped A Cow Carcass 1,629 Meters Into The South China Sea – And 8 Unexpected Visitors Turned Up

July 8, 2025 by Deborah Bloomfield

Getting accurate information on animal species can be quite a challenge, especially when they live deep within the sea. One of those animals is the Pacific sleeper shark (Somniosus pacificus), which, despite its widespread distribution, remains quite elusive – so it was a surprise to scientists carrying out an experiment in the South China Sea when eight of them turned up.

The scientists were planning to investigate the processes that occur when a whale carcass falls to the sea floor. To simulate this, they dropped a cow carcass at 1,629 meters (5,344 feet) deep on a continental slope near Hainan Island. 

Video footage of the carcass in position then revealed some unexpected visitors in the form of eight Pacific sleeper sharks, the first known occurrence of the species in this region, and this provided some interesting new information.

It seems the sleeper sharks are quite a polite bunch, as the video recording shows both their predation behavior and a kind of queueing behavior. The researchers found that sharks in front gave up their feeding positions to individual sharks approaching the carcass from behind in the queue. 

“This behavior suggests that feeding priority is determined by individual competitive intensity, even in deep-water environments, reflecting a survival strategy suitable for non-solitary foraging among Pacific sleeper sharks,” said Han Tian, from the Sun Yat-sen University and Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory in China, and author of the study describing the findings, in a statement. 



In addition, the team found that sharks that were 2.7 meters (8.9 feet) or longer were more aggressive in attacking the cow carcass compared to the smaller sharks, which were more likely to be cautious and showed deliberate circling behavior. 

“The highly aggressive behavior of sharks observed in the South China Sea suggests that this region still harbors abundant food sources in the deep sea. But what exactly are they? This question is intriguing for both animal distribution and behavioral research,” said Tian.

The team also spotted an eye retraction behavior, something they believe is a protective adaptation for the eyes during feeding, as Pacific sleeper sharks don’t have the “third eyelid” or nictitating membrane that’s seen in lots of other animal species, like cats and reptiles.

The footage further revealed that some of the sharks bore parasites in the form of copepods, though they could not be identified. Sleeper sharks are related to Greenland sharks, and both have been known to have parasites inside their eyes. Other organisms spotted in the video included snailfish and lots of deep-sea amphipod species. 

While sleeper sharks are widespread and have been documented in waters in the North Pacific from Japan to Alaska, all the way south to Baja California and even the Tonga trench, they are typically thought to prefer colder waters. The species was accidentally seen near the Solomon Islands and Palau, which is thought to represent the furthest south of their distribution. 

While it is interesting to see the sharks in a new area, it does bring into question whether this was always part of their range, or if it is an expansion related to climate change. 

“Although Pacific sleeper sharks have also been found in the deep waters of their typical distribution range in the North Pacific, their frequent occurrence in the southwestern region of the South China Sea suggests that our understanding of this population remains significantly limited,” said Tian.

The study is published in Ocean-Land-Atmosphere Research.

Deborah Bloomfield
Deborah Bloomfield

Related posts:

  1. Bolivian president calls for global debt relief for poor countries
  2. Five Seasons Ventures pulls in €180M fund to tackle human health and climate via FoodTech
  3. Unexplained And Deadly Heat Wave Hotspots Are Showing Up Across The Planet
  4. If Birds Are Dinosaurs, Why Are None As Big As T. Rexes?

Source Link: Scientists Dropped A Cow Carcass 1,629 Meters Into The South China Sea – And 8 Unexpected Visitors Turned Up

Filed Under: News

Primary Sidebar

  • “I Saved A PNG Image To A Bird”: YouTuber Stores 176KB Drawing Of A Bird Inside A Bird’s Song
  • The Falkland Islands Wolf: The Tragic Tale Of The First Known Canid Humans Drove To Extinction
  • There’s A Forever Chemical That’s In Your Water, Food, And Blood — And Levels Are “Increasing Irreversibly”
  • “World’s Rarest Bear” Captured On Camera In Mongolian Desert – With A Baby!
  • Alligators Eat Rocks For An Incredibly Smart Reason
  • New Study Raises “Disturbing Prospect” About Alien Civilizations Using Dyson Swarms
  • The Khamar-Daban Incident Is So Strange It Is Known As “Buryatia’s Dyatlov Pass”
  • Zebroids, Zeedonks, Zorses, Zonies: Welcome To The World Of Zebra Hybrids
  • How Far Into The Universe Can You See With Your Naked Eye?
  • “Rarest Baryon Decay Ever Observed So Far” Found In Experiment That Wasn’t Even Looking For It
  • Scientists “Read Minds” By Opening The Brain’s “Filing Cabinet” Of Memories
  • 4,000-Year-Old Ancient Egyptian Handprint Discovered On “Soul House” Tomb Offering
  • Dogs Can Smell Parkinson’s Disease Years Before Symptoms Appear With Incredible Accuracy
  • The Longest-Reigning Monarch
  • Adorable Boxer Crabs Filmed “Cloning” Their Living Anemone Gloves For The First Time
  • Watch An Adorable Little Crab Hitch A Ride On A Mosaic Jellyfish Through The Gulf Of Thailand
  • COVID Vaccines Saved An Incredible 2.5 Million Lives In The First 4 Years Of The Pandemic
  • NASA Has Made A Sizable Error In Lunar And Martian Physics, Study Suggests
  • Disappearing Stars In The 1950s Associated With UAPs And Nuclear Weapons Tests
  • These Are The “New Seasons” Scientists Think Are Emerging Because Of Climate Change
  • Business
  • Health
  • News
  • Science
  • Technology
  • +1 718 874 1545
  • +91 78878 22626
  • [email protected]
Office Address
Prudour Pvt. Ltd. 420 Lexington Avenue Suite 300 New York City, NY 10170.

Powered by Prudour Network

Copyrights © 2025 · Medical Market Report. All Rights Reserved.

Go to mobile version