Exploring Deep Sea Wonders: Sixgill Shark

selim12 March 26, 2024 0 Comments

The sixgill shark is from the family Hexanchus, a deep-water shark from the family family Hexanchidae. They are rarely seen as they are found deep in the ocean.

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Habitat of the sixgill shark:

They are found at depths starting from 90 to 2500 meters. They are found in the Aleutian Islands, Alaska Baja California, and Mexico. They are found in abyssal plain areas.

Appearance And Description:

They have broad pointing heads and six pairs of gills. They also have yellow lower teeth and a long tail. The maximum length is 8 meters and they can weigh over 600 kg. The female weight varies greatly in the reproductive.”In the intricate design of the upper jaw, each tooth boasts a dominant cusp accompanied by a chorus of smaller cusps, orchestrating a symphony of precision. These teeth act as culinary maestros, deftly gripping morsels of food, while their counterparts in the lower jaw perform a delicate sawing ballet, elegantly carving away bite-sized pieces with finesse.The color is grey to dark black.

Diet:

They eat small invertebrates, small fish, and surface seals. The Bluntnose Sixgill Shark preys on small fishes, snails, crabs, shrimp, and squid, and also scavenges on carrion from seals, sea lions, whales, and bait from fisheries.

Behavior And Lifespan:

These species of shark migrate often. They prefer temperature preferences over 75 days. The preferred depth of the sixgill shark is 900 meters at 10.3 °C. They move smoothly in the water column. The six-gill sharks have the ability to alter their feeding behaviors due to the situation that they are in. They consume a little bit of food compared to other invertebrates. They can live up to 80 years.

Reproduction Of The Sixgill Shark:

The Bluntnose Sixgill Shark reproduces through ovoviparity, where the eggs hatch inside the female’s body, and the embryos remain until birth.
After a long gestation period, a litter of 22 to 108 pups is born, each measuring about 23-30 inches (60-75 cm) in length.
The male gently grabs the female near specific areas like the gills, pectoral fins, and flanks when mating.

Conservation Status:

This species is identified as a Species of Greatest Conservation Need (SGCN) under the State Wildlife Action Plan (SWAP). Like other sharks, this species is affected by pollution and climate change.

Cool Facts About Sixgill Sharks:

*Females give in shallow waters to give birth encountering divers.

*Though only two extant species (the bluntnose sixgill shark and the bigeyed sixgill shark) were originally known, a third, the Atlantic sixgill shark, was found to exist.

What a creature this is, the beauty and silence of the sixgill shark is unmatched. But more efforts are needed to further protect these species.