Kavachi is one of the most active underwater volcanoes in the southwest Pacific Ocean. It’s surrounded by hot, acidic sweater that makes it too dangerous for human divers. But when a team of scientists recently sent down camera-equipped robots, they found a surprising amount of biodiversity, including silky sharks, hammerhead sharks and the rarely-seen Pacific sleeper shark.
The ‘sharkcano’, located south of Vangunu in the Solomon Islands, last experienced an eruption in 2014.
It’s unclear how the sharks deal with the extremes of this habitat, but given the growing threat of ocean acidification around the world, any animals that are adapted to conditions like these are worth a closer look.
“What sort of changes have they undergone? Are there only certain animals that can withstand it?” asks researcher Brennan Phillips. He is also curious what all these animals do when Kavachi erupts. “Do they get an early warning and escape the volcano before it gets explosive or do they get trapped and perish in steam and lava?” He hopes to deploy longer-term cameras and set up a seismic observatory to answer those questions.
Picture Credit : Google
