Many Marine researchers and experts had thought sharks could and would never be found in freezing waters like the Antarctic. This week, a researcher named Alan Jamieson, during a deep dive into the Antarctic Ocean, found an unexpected surprise. This shark was an estimated length of around 3 and 4 meters(10 and 13 feet).

Alan Jamieson reports on ABC News, states “We went down there not expecting to see sharks because there’s a general rule of thumb that you don’t get sharks in Antarctica..” Jamieson also stated, “And it’s not even a little one either. It’s a hunk of a shark. These things are tanks”(Jamieson, Feb 17,2026).

This camera that supposedly caught the footage was operated by the Minderoo-UWA Deep-Sea Research Centre, which researches life in the deepest parts of the world’s oceans. The camera just so happened to be placed just off the South Southern Islands near the Antarctic Peninsula. Which is located deeply inside the boundaries of the Antarctic Ocean, also known as the Southern Ocean.

The shark was reportedly 490 meters (1,680 ft.) deep where the water temperature was a near-freezing 1.27 degrees Celsius (34.29 degrees in Fahrenheit). “This is great. The shark was in the right place, the camera was in the right place and they got this great footage,” a Charles Darwin University biologist named Peter Kyne stated (McGuirk, Feb 17,2026).

This may lead to potential climate change and Ocean warming, which might be driving the sharks to the Southern Hemisphere’s cold waters. “The slow-moving deep sharks could have long been in Antarctica without anyone noticing”(Kyne Feb 17,2026).