{"id":363565,"date":"2015-09-24T05:19:43","date_gmt":"2015-09-24T02:19:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/scubadiverlife.com\/?p=11272"},"modified":"2015-09-24T05:19:43","modified_gmt":"2015-09-24T02:19:43","slug":"sharks-found-living-in-active-underwater-volcano","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.proscubadiver.net\/sharks-found-living-in-active-underwater-volcano\/scuba_news\/","title":{"rendered":"Sharks Found Living In Active Underwater Volcano"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"Body\"><span style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif;\">Earlier this year, oceanographer Brennan Phillips led a team of scientists on an expedition to Kavachi, an underwater volcano known to be one of the most active in the southwest Pacific. Located approximately 60 feet (18 m) beneath the surface near the Solomon Islands, Kavachi is prone to regular eruptions, the most recent of which took place in January 2014. Phillips\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 team embarked on their expedition to learn more about Kavachi\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s geology, but discovered something quite unexpected in the process.<\/span><span style=\"font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/0e3t18rrjOA\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p class=\"Body\"><span style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif;\">Even when Kavachi is not erupting, the underwater volcano is an inhospitable place. Due to bubbling chemical plumes of methane and carbon dioxide, the water within the crater is highly acidic, to the point where divers who have tried to approach the crater have suffered acid burns. The water is also incredibly hot, and yet, when Phillips and his team reviewed footage of Kavachi filmed by National Geographic\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s remote deep-sea Drop Cam, they were astounded to see evidence of life within the crater itself.<\/span><span style=\"font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"Body\"><span style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif;\">The scientists watched incredulously as the footage revealed first a sixgill stingray, then significant numbers of scalloped hammerhead and silky sharks, all of which appeared to be flourishing in water discolored by chemical fluctuations. Phillips summed up the enormity of the discovery, saying \u00e2\u20ac\u0153these large animals are living in what you have to assume is much hotter and much more acidic water, and they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re just hanging out. It makes you question what type of extreme environment these animals are adapted to. What sort of changes have they undergone? Are there only certain animals that can withstand it?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/span><span style=\"font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"Body\"><span style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif;\">The discovery of the sharks within Kavachi\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s crater also raises questions about how the animals cope when the volcano erupts. Since the volcano\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s first recorded eruption in 1939, Kavachi has undergone several periods of major activity, many of which have lasted for several months. Since it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s highly unlikely that the sharks living in the volcano could survive an eruption, Phillips is anxious to find out whether they \u00e2\u20ac\u0153get an early warning and escape the caldera before it gets explosive, or do they become trapped and perish?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif;\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"Body\"><span style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif;\">Apparently, eruptions are preceded by an audible rumbling sound, so perhaps the sharks have learned to associate that sound with imminent activity and abandon the area. Phillips hopes to launch another project to find out, by pairing observations of the sharks\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 behavior with actual eruptions of Kavachi\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s main peak. To do this, the team would need to monitor seismic activity while deploying underwater cameras capable of producing long-term footage of the volcano\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s sharks.<\/span><span style=\"font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"Body\"><span style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif;\">In a time when ocean acidification as a result of climate change threatens the health of marine environments all over the world, understanding how the Kavachi sharks have adapted to survive in highly acidic conditions is of particular interest. The discovery demonstrates the incredible aptitude for adaptation and survival that has enabled shark species to thrive for millions of years, while highlighting how much we still have to learn about our oceans.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"et_bloom_bottom_trigger\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>The post <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/scubadiverlife.com\/2015\/09\/24\/sharks-found-living-in-active-underwater-volcano\/\">Sharks Found Living In Active Underwater Volcano<\/a> appeared first on <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/scubadiverlife.com\/\">Scuba Diver Life<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"214\" src=\"http:\/\/scubadiverlife.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/volcano_featured-300x214.jpg\" alt=\"volcano_featured\"\/> In a time when ocean acidification as a result of climate change threatens the health of marine environments all over the world, understanding how the Kavachi sharks have adapted to survive in highly acidic conditions is of particular interest. <\/p>\n<p>The post <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/scubadiverlife.com\/2015\/09\/24\/sharks-found-living-in-active-underwater-volcano\/\">Sharks Found Living In Active Underwater Volcano<\/a> appeared first on <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/scubadiverlife.com\/\">Scuba Diver Life<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5198,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center 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