In a scientific first, researchers surveying the deep sea in Timor-Leste filmed a live painted swellshark.
The team of scientists captured the footage using special deep-sea cameras that they lowered into the water off Dili, Timor-Leste. They recorded one shark on 17 November 2024 and another the following day.
The animals were seen at depths of 570 and 536 metres in areas with steep rocky slopes. Sometimes called the twilight zone, the layer of the ocean between 200m and 1,000m is very dark as only the tiniest bit of sunlight can reach these immense depths.
Painted swellsharks filmed alive
To find out exactly what they’d seen in these deep waters, the researchers turned to the Lost Shark Guy Dave Ebert who has dedicated his career to discovering unknown shark species and finding out more about the little-known ones.
Ebert confirmed that this was, in fact, a painted swellshark and that they seemed to have recorded the first live video footage of the species.
“This is the first time that we have seen the deep ocean of Timor-Leste so it makes it very exciting,” says study author Louw Claassens from WorldFish. “The fact that we were able to get footage of the painted swellshark is really a bonus!”
Painted swellsharks (Cephaloscyllium pictum) are incredibly rare. The species was described in 2008 from five specimens found in Indonesian fish markets.
“To our knowledge, this species has never been observed in the wild, and little is known about its ecology, habitat or behaviour,” the authors say in their new paper. Their study – Lost and found: discovery of the painted swellshark Cephaloscyllium pictum in Timor-Leste – is published in Oryx Conservation News.
“At each site, the shark returned to the camera several times, and in the second instance the female shark interacted with the bait and made several passes in front of the camera,” says the study.
The exciting discovery hints that there may be much more to discover in the deep seas around Timor-Leste. Observations from scuba divers have highlighted the areas importance for sharks, but “in situ research is critical to inform conservation, especially for deep-sea species where diver observations are not possible,” says the study.
“Timor-Leste is really an undiscovered country for sharks and rays," adds Ebert.
The cameras, developed by the National Geographic Exploration Technology Lab, have been created to help scientists make these types of discoveries more easily.
They are “engineered to be both affordable and lightweight, yet still capable of capturing high-quality video at depths of up to 6,000 metres,” says Kasie Coccaro, senior director of the National Geographic Exploration Technology Lab. “This innovative technology allows researchers to gather data from regions that are typically out of reach and understudied."
Claassens hopes that this will be the first of many exciting findings in the region. “This initial first look allows us to get the interest going and hopefully make an argument that further research and exploration is needed,” she says. “There is still so much to learn about the ocean.”
Main image and video credit: Louw Claassens | National Geographic Exploration Technology Lab
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