Sixgill Sharks in Seattle
August 13-16, 2008

Wetpixel's Eric Cheng and Matt Segal are currently out with Simon Rogerson (editor of Dive Magazine) in Seattle in an attempt to photograph six gill sharks (Hexanchus griseus).

We're out here with Hydrus on the M/V Katherine Jane.

Stay tuned -- I've managed to rig up a wireless network here and will be updating this page as frequently as possible with video and still image clips (pseudo-live).

In order to upload as much media as possible, much of it will be rather raw; I apologize in advance.

The video feed is on the front page:
http://wetpixel.com/i.php/full/six-gill-sharks-in-seattle/

UPDATE: I'm going to inline the video feed here, to make things easier:

One of my first shots of a six gill! (taken 2 hours ago)

Wow. That's so cool.

Alex

way cool

Eric gets a present

Click to view attachment
(Pardon the ugly watermark)

Another shot!

It looks like a Ratfish in the background on the first shot. Very cool.
What depth are you guys at?

Gets me pumped up for Port Hardy BC. Not that we will see 6 Gills but for the West Coast diving.

Cheers boys

Todd

Way to go guys! Can you tell us where you're diving so we can be there in spirit?
Dive safe,
Steve

Wow those are awesome. I see the ratfish in the background too - way cool. I though all these fish were only seen in deep water - way to go.

James

wow. cool. amazing!!

Wow, you hit the SixGill jackpot! And you sure picked a great day to dive here in Seattle.

The picture of the underside and the swooshing tail is my favorite so far.

Dave

The ratfish here are insane. There are literally hundreds of them down here fighting, along with dozens of dungeness crabs. CRAB WARS!

Even when we're waiting for the sixgills to come in, it's entertaining to watch the incidental critters interact. (By the way, I had been really excited before about my ratfish portraits. Now I realize that if you go the right area, they are everywhere!)

More like CRAB LOVE. It's mating season!

For those of you who are too lazy to click through to the front page, I've updated the first post on this thread to include the video feed.

Thanks for the link and post. Definitely on my radar for future trips!

Eric,

Can you post a few ratfish images - would be great to see a few of them, individual and groups if possible.

Thanks for the wonderful images so far.

Regards

Nigel

Yes, ratfish are really cool the first few you see ...then after you've seen a whole bunch, they're just kinda creepy!

Glad you guys are seeing the six gills you came for! Keep posting photos, and I'll see you Sunday!

Hey come on post some little critter pix too!

Oh Eric, you're loosing it mate! Stop trying play Dr. No emails on Mac and get back in the water, there's always cool stuff down there to shoot...

Look forward to seeing more...

Graham - we only dive at night here, so we're sort of bored during the day. That's why the wacky videos make it online.

great stuff. what depth are the 6 gills at and are you on ccr

We are at 60 feet on open circuit.

I just updated the video feed with a video I shot tonight. Only got about 15 seconds of video with the shark in it -- it wasn't too cooperative today. Of course, when we got out of the water, there were three of them on the bait. argh.

I also got some good RATFISH and DOGFISH video.

very nice ! what depth are these at



seems you must have been posting at the same time as me eric...my questions answered before i had asked

Here's a (slightly) higher quality version of the movie I posted on Kyte:

How come I can't see any of the Kyte stuff? I just get an never ending gray screen.

Hey ERIC, you had better leave some stuff to do for when you retire one day?
Maybe you could buy a 4x4 and caravan and travel around AUS.

Great shots...

Great stuff there Eric.
Bored during the day? I guess its time to play tourist at Pikes market then...

We're on a liveaboard, so there is no opportunity to go to Pike Place.

drew -- Kyte sometimes is down. I think they're still having some growing pains as company...

New videos are up! Spiny dogfish and spotted ratfish (check the Kyte feed).

I'll embed the spiny dogfish one here.

By popular request, I've some ratfish (chimaeras) video online:

Another dogfish video -- this time, battling crabs!

Just uploaded a bunch of videos to the Kyte feed.

Should they be available on the same Vimeo page as the others? All I see there are the ones from yesterday.

BTW, in the little slide show in the first post of this thread, it looks like you're using a cage of some sort. You aren't scared of a little six gill shark, are you?!

When a 12-footer tried to get into the cage? Yes.

The bulk of the videos are on the Kyte feed, which is on the front page and on the first message in this thread.

Bruce: obviously, we have to follow the rules of whatever operator we go with. Using a cage has nothing to do with "courage." It's a nice place to hang out down there -- we're on a slope, there can be current, and the visibility sucks. Given the right conditions (and reputation, really), we were allowed to leave the cage when we wanted to.

I can't get the kyte feed on OSX... only when I switch to Windoze!

Drew -- it may not work with Safari. I use a Mac, and it works with Firefox.

It's worked fine every time you've posted - and I'm only on Safari.

Then Drew is just computer-inept.

I suspect it's my firewall or snitch blocking something. But if VM Windoze works then it's gotta be local. But your ugly mug is not worth me spending hours trying to troubleshoot.

Eric,

Thanks for posting those, very entertaining especially those crabs having a go at the dogfish!!

Any skates or rays turning up?

Regards

Nigel

I strive to provide interesting content to the community. Check.

Bryce gets Kyte to work on Safari / Mac OS X. Check.

Eric gets Kyte to work on Firefox / Mac OS X. Check.

Drew's technological ineptitude prevents him from seeing the Kyte feed. Check.

cool stuff eric.

this may sound like a dumb question, but are six gills dangerous? i've dove with lots of sharks, but don't know much about this species. my understanding is that they are deep water sharks that usually don't come to scuba depths except in a few locations. not much is know ... maybe they are a bad assed shark ready to kick some ass. they look like big lazy sharks to me ... but i really don't know.

I think any animal as large as a Six gill is potentially dangerous, but I wouldn't consider them particularly aggressive. I've dove with them a number of times off Hornby Island and have never felt threatened, but I wouldn't want to grab one by the tail to see how long I could hold on. I understand that there cousin, the seven gill, is reported to be considerably more cantankerous.

People bump into them frequently here in Seattle, and I have never heard of an incident.

Of course only about a dozen people world-wide are killed by any type of shark each year, so I think it is pretty safe to say that sharks are not much of threat.

As with most sharks, the sixgills present more of a thrill than a threat. The species is not known to attack humans, but their size (up to 15ft) and varied diet suggest that they should be treated with caution. Obviously, when you introduce bait into the equation – as was the case with our dives – the shark's behaviour shifts up a gear. In this case, the sharks became extremely bold and inquisitive; the larger individuals were completely unafraid of divers and tried to enter the cage. The Hydrus team has gone to extraordinary lengths to make this a safe encounter, but warns divers that in a few cases the cage has taken some punishment.

From my own experience, one of the most surprising physical aspects of this shark is its flexibility: its movement through the water is serpentine, and they have an ability to turn round 180 degrees in a speedy, fluid lunge. Tweaking their tails would be a really bad idea.

Interestingly, the related broadnose sevengill shark Notorhynchus cepedianus has been known to behave aggressively toward humans in unprovoked scenarios, and human remains have been found inside one specimen. As for the sixgills, they are iconic ambassadors for the deep water environment, and I consider it a rare privilege to have observed them in relatively shallow water.

SimonR

The commotion created by the divers and sharks did not go unnoticed - dungeness crab, shiner perch, ratfish, dogfish, and various flatfish all wanted a taste (literally!) of the action.



The crabs seemed greediest, tearing away at the bait to no end. And when not eating, they took the time to attack their reflection in the dome port .

I've posted my full trip report. Enjoy.

http://echeng.com/journal/2008/08/29/sixgill-sharks/

Very nice report, Eric!