Fluorescent Shark Caught on Film

[emad]

September 7, 2005—Science never sleeps, even when facing down a hurricane. Luckily for a handful of deep sea explorers, they've found a rather unusual nightlight.

This still photo from a video taken on August 22 shows the first visual evidence of the fluorescent chain catshark. Scientists taking part in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Operation Deep Scope 2005 expedition found the three-foot-long (one-meter-long) animal on the sea floor of the Gulf of Mexico.

The fluorescent shark was initially observed—though not captured on film—during last year's Deep Scope expedition. Starstruck researchers noted that the glowing menace bears an uncanny resemblance to the fictional jaguar shark pursued by Bill Murray in the 2004 movie The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou.

Deep Scope 2005 researchers found this shark only days before Hurricane Katrina moved over the Gulf of Mexico on August 27. At its peak, Katrina was listed as a Category Five storm, with winds reaching 175 miles an hour (280 kilometers an hour). The expedition ship waited out the storm at a Texas port while research continued onboard.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/09/0907_050907_glowingshark.html

[Shell Beau]

1. Cool! And I loved The Life Aquatic.

The Jaguar shark was just a wee bigger.

[WeRQ4U]

2. Sweet, but alas 3 feet is too big for my tank.

I'll stick with cichlids.

[Shell Beau]

3. All of ours died. We went on to mollies

and we had over 100 of them (started out with 5 in April; they're like rabbits), and after Katrina with no power for 4 days, we're down to 15. :(

[WeRQ4U]

4. Oh no, that's too bad.

If any of my cichlids died, I'd be crushed. I've worked really hard to keep their home under the perfect conditions. And considering that their water needs to be about 80-85 degrees, without electricity, they probably would've died too.

Sorry about that. That's harsh.

[Shell Beau]

5. Yeah! The pump wasn't going which limited their

oxygen supply. It was sad b/c we had some new babies and they were tiny. They died. It was a fish mass grave in there. Luckily, though, we were able to save some. And I was devastated when our cichlids died. They were really pretty fish.

[Coventina]

6. Was he living by Springfield Nuclear Power Plant? n/t