Down in the depths of the ocean live all sorts of rare and unusual beasties – from squids with tentacles that stretch for days and seals picking up good vibrations, the sea bed is home to all sorts of rare life.

In the southwestern Pacific Ocean near the Tonga Trench, researchers used a camera trap baited with fish to find out more about the species that call that area home. At a depth of 1,400 meters (4,593 feet), a Pacific sleeper shark appears out of the dark ocean in the captured footage, and gives the researchers a pretty clear view of the inside of its mouth. 

Pacific sleeper sharks (Somniosus pacificus) are thought to be fairly widespread and live at depths of around 2,000 meters (1.2 miles). Adult females can reach lengths of around 3.7-4.3 meters (12.1 -14.1 feet) but there is some suggestion that the maximum length for this species could be 7 meters (23 feet) long. 

The team estimated this shark to be 3.6 meters (11.8 feet) long in the caption on their Instagram post. These sharks feed on a variety of marine life, including fish, squid crabs – and, apparently, the team’s camera! Fortunately, the shark soon released the camera and moved on to the bait fish instead. 

Dr Jessica Kolbusz explains in a voice-over on the Instagram video that the water is around 2.5°C (36.5°F), as these sharks prefer to live in cooler waters. There is little information about their ecology and behavior. As OceanX explained on their Instagram post of the video, the species is related to the Greenland shark which has one of the longest lifespans of any vertebrate and can interbreed with sleeper sharks. “ They are both commonly affected by the same parasite on their eyeballs that can make them blind,” explained the team. 

Sleeper sharks are often caught as bycatch and could be declining in numbers because of this. While there are few reports on the impact of fishing directly on sleeper sharks, it is thought their meat may give those who consume it an effect similar to drunkenness.