Welcome to “Sharkcano” — where sharks can hang out in the hellish spew from an active volcano crater.
It’s possible that the sharknado franchise’s twisted minds have discovered a new source of mutated-shark ideas. This scene, however, is not like their small-screen counterparts. It comes from deep below the ocean’s surface.
Kavachi’s latest eruption, one of the Pacific’s most active submarine volcanoes, has brought the geological phenomenon back to researchers’ radar. This includes clearer than ever views from the top of the enormous underwater plume. NASA’s Operational Land Imager telescopes orbiting two satellites captured the new imagery. But what’s more alarming is the discovery of two shark species that live within the volcano’s sulfur-saturated calder.
The volcano has been known to scientists since the 1930s, and to local residents in the Solomon Islands for many years before that. It is also known for its long-term eruptions which create an ecological zone that is unique within its reach. Following an eruption in 2014, scientists discovered that both the scalloped and silky hammerhead sharks were found in this area. Scientists began to wonder how they would survive in such harsh conditions.
The uncanny ability of sharks to take extra-spicy acid baths sounds like science fiction. Observers also thought so. In a paper that marvels at the creatures’ ability to live in a volcano crater, they unofficially named their habitat the “Sharkcano”.
“Populations a gelatinous animal, small fish and sharks were seen inside the active crater raising new questions about ecology of active submarine volcanices and extreme environments in which large marine mammals can survive,” the group wrote in 2016 in “Exploring The ‘Sharkcano”: Biogeochemical Observations on the Kavachi Submarine Volcano, (Solomon Islands).
The team continues to question whether animals have a “special tolerance for hot or acidic water,” which might allow them to “survive human-induced changes in ocean chemistry and periods when submarine volcanism is increased globally.”
We’ve seen the movies and we believe that the sharks will be able to take a lot – even if it means they must mutate.
We’re not sure if Tara Reid and Ian Ziering have the resources to revive this hilarious franchise, which officially ended with SYFY’s 2018 Sharknado swan song. If they did decide to reunite the gang for another beach patrol they would find plenty of sci-fi material deep within the Kavachi trenches…where the real sharks don’t wait for screenwriters.
