Elusive creature lurking in shipwreck spotted by divers in ‘once in a lifetime’ moment
Matteo Endrizzi recently took a diving trip to the Alberni Inlet on the western coast of British Columbia. Ahead of his visit, Endrizzi said he and his partner, Maxime Veilleux, put out a message to the dive community.
About 40 divers showed up for the dive the weekend of May 27, Endrizzi said in a June 3 Facebook post.
Endrizzi said he ended up exploring a shipwreck in the inlet with three other divers — Garrett Clement, Connor McTavish and Danton West. That’s when McTavish noticed something peculiar.
“All the sudden it caught the corner of my eye, and there’s no mistaking it: That’s a big shark,” McTavish told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
The diver said he immediately began using his flashlight and hands to signal to his fellow divers what he was seeing, according to the news outlet.
As they got a better look, the group quickly realized that they hadn’t just spotted any shark. Swimming alongside them was a rare bluntnose sixgill shark, Endrizzi said on Facebook.
“This shark is super rare to encounter as a diver because they normally live as deep as 2500m,” Endrizzi wrote. “On top of that, there is no record of a bluntnose sixgill shark ever in the Alberni Inlet!”
Little is known about bluntnose sixgill sharks because they live so deep in the ocean, according to the Florida Museum. The creatures are usually between 15- and 16-feet long, and they are not considered a threat to people unless they are provoked.
Endrizzi said the bluntnose sixgill the group encountered was about 6-feet long.
“Last weekend was a once in a lifetime experience!” he said in a Facebook post. “This was a bucket list event for me and many other divers, and I’m spoiled the encounter was as eventful as it was.”
Both Endrizzi and Clement shared videos of the encounter on social media.
“Encounters are incredibly rare, divers can go their entire career without catching a glimpse of this elusive creature,” Clement wrote in a Facebook post.
This story was originally published June 7, 2023 at 1:42 PM with the headline "Elusive creature lurking in shipwreck spotted by divers in ‘once in a lifetime’ moment."
