Armed with an exceptional submersible camera—dubbed as REMUS SharkCam—set to sail underwater for shark exploration, a team of scientists was able to surprisingly shoot how great white sharks attack on its prey right in the waters of Guadalupe Island on the West Coast of Mexico.
Researchers from the Ocean Systems Laboratory of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution deployed the 7-foot long camera and shot the shark encounter in October 2013, but only released the video footage two weeks ago, which will be aired on Discovery Channel for the observance of Shark Week.
REMUS stands for Remote Environmental Monitoring Unit, and is described by the Woods Hole as “a specially outfitted REMUS-100 autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) equipped with video cameras and navigational and scientific instrumentation that enable it to locate, track, and film up close a tagged marine animal, such as a North Atlantic white shark (great white).”
The pre-programmed SharkCam, as controlled by these scientists, has six GoPro video cameras installed, providing a spectacular 360 degrees view of the surroundings. These cameras were mounted on underwater probe REMUS-100. It can go as deep as 100 meters or 328 feet and can stay underwater for a maximum of eight hours.
Since REMUS was programmed, it doesn’t intrude with the routines or behavior of marine animals. The unit was, however, getting noticed when it reached a group of sharks, with some even bumping or charging it and others stalking it from under.
"Sharks take advantage of the clear water to lurk in the darkness below the vehicle, then swim up suddenly and bite it on the tail or mid-section," says the footage. "This is the same way sharks hunt seals near Guadalupe Island."
The SharkCam was fortunate enough to have survived the series of shark attacks and brought home recordings for scientific studies—along with the shark bite marks on it.
Roger Stokey, a senior engineer at the Institution who was aboard the boat during the filming of the sharks and the attack itself, admits that he couldn’t understand how the underwater vehicle even survived the attack.
Research says they are planning to use the same underwater technology to follow and film other big marine animals for similar scientific study.
Big Wave Productions filmed the REMUS SharkCam footage that will appear starting Sunday on Discovery Channel. Below is the video posted on YouTube by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.
