Sleeper Shark Filmed in Antarctica

A sleeper shark, estimated to be between 3 and 4 meters long, was filmed in January 2025 at a depth of 490 meters off the South Shetland Islands near the Antarctic Peninsula. This discovery, announced by researcher Alan Jamieson of the Minderoo-UWA Deep-Sea Research Centre, challenges long-held scientific assumptions that sharks do not inhabit the frigid waters of Antarctica. Conservation biologist Peter Kyle confirmed that a shark had never before been recorded so far south. While climate change and warming oceans could be a factor, the slow-moving sleeper sharks might have been present in Antarctica unnoticed for a long time due to limited research at specific depths and during certain times of the year.