Video: Do you know what a sleeping great white shark looks like? It’s never been seen before. Until now. A robotic submersible captured the first-ever footage of a great white taking a nap, and you can see it innocently catch some zzzs with its mouth hanging wide open. It looks maybe seven per cent less frightening than a great white that’s awake.
The shark doesn’t stop swimming, though its movement slows down tremendously and its body goes into this relaxed auto-pilot mode. The great white has to keep on moving, or it would sink to the bottom and suffocate.
Discovery posted this footage from Shark Week 2016’s Jaws of the Deep and explains what’s happening below.