People ‘terrified’ of deep sea after seeing eerie underwater footage of prehistoric creature
Most people think of the ocean as a tranquil, beautiful place, but many have been left 'terrified' after deep-sea footage has emerged showing what appears to be a prehistoric creature.
Now, we all know that some pretty weird and wonderful creatures lie far below the surface.
Who can forget the strangely adorable anglerfish we were all obsessed with for a while last year?
It's not just home to cute dolphins and Finding Nemo-esque fish though, as there are some pretty terrifying things lurking in the depths - and that's even if you don't have a touch of thalassophobia.
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FYI, that's an intense fear of large, deep bodies of water, just to save you a Google there.
Add in the fact we've apparently only explored around five percent of the world's oceans, and it shouldn't be a surprise that there's some pretty creepy stuff lurking.
Viewers have been quaking after seeing underwater footage featuring a seriously scary undersea creature.
If you're not a fan of Jaws, look away now... as there's a whopping great shark.
At first, it's not entirely clear what you're looking at, thanks to giant clouds of sand being thrown up from the sea floor as the creature travels around.
The dust gradually clears and the - frankly massive - shark’s head becomes visible as it glides surprisingly smoothly past the window of the submarine.
Onlookers are overheard saying 'this is a monster’, in what is quite frankly a much calmer way than we would be, as they take in the size of the beast.
They joke it’s ‘going to eat the gun’ with it being ‘bigger than this sub is long’.
It was part of a trip planned by the Cape Eleuthera Institute, as they successfully managed to put a satellite tag on the shark.
So on the plus side, at least we know where it is at all times now.
“Our objective was the deep-sea #shark, the bluntnose sixgill,” they wrote.
Not only is it massive, but this species has also been around for a very, very long time.
“This ancient species predates most dinosaurs and is a dominant predator of the deep sea ecosystem.”
They can grow to be up to 20ft long and weigh in at around 500kg, with bigger specimens tipping the scales at 1,000kg.
We're not entirely sure how they've managed to weigh them, but that's a question for another time.
One viewer wrote: "If not the size, this shark's eye alone would have given me a straight heart attack.”
Another said it was like ‘something out of a sci-fi movie’, while someone else was having a straight-up existential crisis: "It’s simply insane to think such creatures exist in such completely isolated parts of our planet.
"Really makes you wonder what other things are out there."
Someone who has clearly watched too many disaster movies recently mused: “It’s all fun and games, till something even bigger eats that shark.”
I didn't want to sleep tonight, anyway.
Topics: Science, Sharks, YouTube, World News
Jen Thomas