Actually, Carl Sorensen was looking for octopuses on a solo dive before Vancouver Island. Then an animal appeared a few meters in front of him that he had never seen in around 1,200 dives in the region: a large one Bluntnose sixgill shark. Global News and NanaimoNewsNOW report the rare encounter at dive site Madrona Point near Parksville.
Suddenly the shark came closer with its mouth open
Sorensen noticed the shark about five feet away. The animal swam towards him with its mouth open. The diver was initially frightened and, according to his own account, screamed into his regulator, but then immediately turned on his camera. The shark came so close that it touched the camera equipment.
Instead of moving on quickly, sixgill shark stayed near Sorensen for about three minutes. He then moved back into deeper water. It was a first for the experienced diver: although he says he has completed around 1,200 dives around Vancouver Island completed, he had never seen a Bluntnose sixgill shark before.
Slowly, calmly and without any apparent aggression
The open mouth seemed threatening at first. However, Sorensen did not consider the behavior to be an attack. He described the shark as swimming slowly, gently and very steadily. Even after the animal touched his camera, it continued on its quiet path.
The expression “gentle giant” summarizes the diver’s impression, but is not a general guarantee of behavior. As with any encounter with a large wild animal, the following applies: keep your distance, do not block the escape route and let the animal decide on the proximity and duration of the encounter.
Why sightings at diving depths are unusual
The Bluntnose sixgill shark (Hexanchus griseus) is a large deep-sea species. It also occurs in the waters off British Columbia, but often stays well below the usual depths for recreational diving. Sightings in flatter areas are therefore rare, although the species is found in the northeast Pacific is by no means unknown.
The species can be recognized by, among other things, six gill slits, a single dorsal fin located far back and the broad, blunt head. Large females can reach several meters in length. Their depth range extends from coastal zones to a depth of around 2,000 meters – but a possible habitat is not automatically a place where divers regularly encounter the animals.
What brought the shark into shallower water remains unclear
Sorensen suspected that reproduction, an impending birth or foraging may have brought the shark near the dive site. Many octopuses live in the area, which can also be part of the prey range of large sixgill sharks animals. However, there is no evidence for any of these explanations from the brief observation.
The recording therefore documents one thing above all: an unusual encounter with a deep-sea species that is normally difficult to access. It is not an indication of a sudden increase in population and is not a warning signal for bathers or divers. For Sorensen, it will probably remain unattainable for a long time – he had never encountered one like it before in more than a thousand dives.
