Diving with Skalugsuak - The Arctic Shark

Diving with large animals is always a thrill, especially when you know the creature passing before you has been observed only by a handful of divers worldwide.

Canada has its fair share of big animal encounters: the sixgill shark and the giant octopus are quite common in British Columbia. Grey seals, occasional ocean sunfish (mola mola), beluga whale and basking shark are the stuff of legend and lore in the Maritimes. Rare Arctic encounters with the bowhead whale, narwhal, and walrus are possible for more adventurous divers with a lot of resources and training. Yet, one common and plentiful species has largely escaped the spotlight since the advent of diving.

The Greenland shark, Somniosus microcephalus, is the one shark able to inhabit Arctic waters year-round. Only on a few rare occasions has it ever been observed alive by divers, and usually under conditioned circumstances. As my colleague Dr. Chris Harvey-Clark puts it, you are more likely to encounter the Loch Ness Monster than a Greenland shark. We should know. Dr. Harvey-Clark and I, as well as John Batt from Dalhousie University, have been searching for Skalugsuak unsuccessfully in the Arctic, Atlantic and Saguenay for close to five years. Skalugsuak is the shark's name in Inuktitut. Inuit legend says an old woman washing her hair with urine wiped it dry with a cloth that was blown into the sea by the wind. There, it became Skalugsuak, the Greenland shark. The legend makes a lot of sense. The shark's flesh contains a high concentration of urea that renders it inedible, even toxic.

Dr. Chris Harvey-Clark swims next a Greenland shark

A Greenland shark approaches Jeffery Gallant

Encounters with several free-swimming specimens approaching divers of their own volition were unheard of until this June when two recreational divers from Quebec, Sylvain Sirois and Michel Chartier, reported an encounter with a very big fish in the St. Lawrence Estuary on a scuba-related chat group. What I first believed to be an unconfirmed freak encounter with a possible Greenland shark was simply added to my statistics chart along with a healthy dose of envy. Four days later, a third diver, Alain Simard, posted a whopper of an e-mail: He reported seeing a shark on three consecutive dives on the same day. Sensing this was the moment we had been awaiting for many years, I alerted my companions and a dive team from the Shark Research Institute (Canada), Dalhousie University, the Quebec Aquarium, and the Aqualog Society, rushed to Baie-Comeau for what would soon turn into one of the most exciting and hastily planned expeditions of our careers.

Over the next week, we dove with at least four different specimens of both sexes. The images filmed and photographed were likely the first ever taken by divers of Greenland sharks that had not been baited or brought up on hook and line from great depth. The sharks, which measured between 2.5 and 3.5 metres, initiated and terminated every encounter. Although scientific analysis of our images and personal reports is still underway, some unexpected behaviour traits were observed that are of particular concern to divers. Unlike previously encountered specimens in the Arctic, the St. Lawrence specimens had no ocular parasites to adversely affect their vision. Arctic specimens of Greenland shark are believed by many to be blind. These sharks clearly had us in their sights and were obviously bothered by the presence of these noisy and clumsy intruders. Furthermore, warning signs in the form of body language observed in more southerly species of sharks, including extreme pectoral fin depression, are indications that the Greenland shark should be observed from a safe distance and that physical contact should be avoided altogether. On one occasion, this normally bottom-hugging species was also observed rising ten metres from the bottom to "inspect" a diver heading for the surface in mid-water. Those who doubt this species doesn't prey on live seals should think again.

A scientific paper has been submitted for publication and will likely serve as a basis for the establishment of a diver code of ethics and safety measures for observing the Greenland shark although chances are, that won't happen very often. According to our contacts in the area, the sharks have not been seen since the week following the expedition, nor are they a regular occurrence in Baie-Comeau or anywhere else in the St. Lawrence system. Hopefully, more research will lead to better understanding and more encounters with Skalugsuak, the Greenland shark. For more information on the latest and past Greenland shark expeditions by the author, go online at: www.aqualog.com