In a world’s first, Churaumi Aquarium successfully recorded footage of a luminescent deep-sea Mollers lantern shark biting into its prey whilst it luminesces.

≪ヒレタカフジクジラ≫
Scientific name：Etmopterus molleri
English name：Mollers lantern shark

The Mollers lantern shark is a small shark reaching 40 cm in length, and is widely distributed in the Pacific Ocean, from Japan to Australia and New Zealand. It is found at depths from around 260 to 860 meters. It has luminescent organs on the surface of its body which emit a faint light, however, there had been no observation of this phenomenon in the deep sea.

Above footage: Typical footage taken with additional lighting
Bottom footage: Using a high sensitivity camera with no additional lighting
The shark is biting into its prey, raising its tail fin as it shakes the body violently
(Footage taken 6th, September 2018)

Species of lantern sharks (Etmopterus) inhabit the deep sea and are very difficult to care for in captivity. There are not many examples of rearing them in an aquarium. Also, there was no precedence of observation of luminescence on the floor of the deep sea.
(※The world’s first footage observing a luminescent lantern shark in the tank was successfully taken with joint research conducted with the NHK in 2016)

A special underwater housing was constructed for this project. We observed the sea floor with bait placed in front of the camera.

• Camera equipment
  ・Super high sensitivity camera (Canon ME20F-SH)
  ・Underwater housing able to withstand water pressure at depths down to 1000m.
• Location
  ・500 meters beneath the surface around 10km off the coast of Cape Zanpa, Okinawa.

Several Moller lantern sharks bit into the bait shaking their body to the right and to the left towards the camera, and the team were able to successfully record the luminescence of the belly. During this time, the luminescence was recorded only when the abdomen was turned towards the camera. The narrow band of luminescence is a characteristic of this species. (Reference: Cleas et al. 20)

Churaumi Aquarium will continue its deep-sea surveys to reveal the ecology of the Mollers lantern shark, and the purpose of its mysterious luminescence.
From 10th December 2018, footage of the luminescent Mollers lantern shark can be viewed at the Deep Sea section of the Aquarium