Scientists catch a shark trio to the camera

Three sharks, two cameras

Lassauce had two GoPro Hero 5 cameras ready at hand, but with a dubious battery life. This is why the video sequences have two interruptions of the action: once when he had to change cameras after obtaining a “low battery” signal, and a second time when he stopped filming voluntarily to keep the battery of the second camera. There is not much for 55 minutes, after all, and he wanted to be sure to capture the pivotal moments of the sequence. Lassauce succeeded and was rewarded with triumphant acclamations of her colleagues marine biologists on the boat, who knew very well the rarity of what had just been documented for posterity.

The long stage of precopulation involved the three motionless sharks on the seabed for almost an hour, after which the female began to swim with a male shark biting each of her pectoral fins. A few minutes later, the first male made its movement, “penetrating the female cloaca with its left clasper.” Fermters are modified pelvic fins capable of transferring sperm. Once the first male shark, he was motionless while the second man stayed on the other fin of the female. Then the other shark moved, did his business, went motionless and the female shark swam. The males also swam shortly after.

In addition to the scientist first, the documentation of the sequence is a good indicator that this particular area is an essential cutting habitat for leopard sharks, and could lead to better conservation strategies, as well as artificial insemination efforts to “rebalance” leopard sharks in Australia and in several other countries. “It is surprising and fascinating that two men were sequentially involved on this occasion,” said co-author Christine Dudgeon, also of UNISC, adding: “From the point of view of genetic diversity, we want to know how many fathers contribute to the lots of eggs posed each year by women.”

Journal of Ethology, 2025. Doi: 10.1007 / S10164-025-00866-4 (about DOI).