Shark discovered in Antarctica’s deep waters for the first time on camera

A massive sleeper shark has been caught on camera in the icy waters of the Antarctica, marking what researchers believe is the first recorded sighting of a shark so far south.

The shark, estimated to measure between three and four metres long, was filmed in January 2025 at a depth of 490 metres near the South Shetland Islands, off the Antarctic Peninsula. Water temperatures at that depth were a near-freezing 1.27°C.

The footage was captured by a camera operated by the Minderoo-UWA Deep-Sea Research Centre, founded by researcher Alan Jamieson.

“We went down there not expecting to see sharks because there’s a general rule of thumb that you don’t get sharks in Antarctica,” Jamieson said. “And it’s not even a little one either. It’s a hunk of a shark. These things are tanks.”

According to Jamieson, he could find no previous record of a shark being documented in the Antarctic Ocean, also known as the Southern Ocean. Independent conservation biologist Peter Kyne of Charles Darwin University agreed that no shark had previously been recorded at such a southern latitude.

Scientists are unsure how many sleeper sharks may inhabit Antarctic waters. Some experts suggest the species may have been present all along but remained undetected due to the region’s extreme remoteness and limited research coverage.

Cameras at those depths can only operate during the southern hemisphere’s summer months, leaving vast stretches of the year unobserved.

“This is great. The shark was in the right place, the camera was in the right place, and they got this great footage,” Kyne said. “It’s quite significant.”

Researchers believe any Antarctic sleeper sharks likely patrol depths around 500 metres, where slightly warmer, layered water conditions exist, feeding on carcasses that sink to the ocean floor.

The rare sighting highlights how much of Earth’s southernmost waters remain unexplored, and how many surprises may still be lurking in the dark.