Kavachi is one of the most active underwater volcanoes in the world. Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean in the Solomon Islands, it has been active since 1939 when it made its first eruption. But although more than eight decades have passed, activity by the underwater colossus continues to be recorded. This is why the area around it had been considered almost uninhabitable, since it is so acidic and with such high temperatures that it was unlikely that life could occur near Kavachi. Or at least that was thought until explorers found a group of sharks living inside the crater of the .
The team of researchers, sponsored by National Geographic and the Waitt Foundation, decided to explore far beyond what had been achieved. Until before this amazing adventure, explorers had only managed to get close to Kavachi to the limits that the pressure and temperature allow a diver. For this reason, the team of researchers decided to take it a step further by introducing a camera that would help them better understand the mysterious underwater volcano.
Initially the objective focused on carrying out different tests on the underwater colossus to search for hydrothermal activity. However, the exploration quickly changed course when they submerged the 36-kilogram camera that managed to reach a depth of 47 meters below the sea surface, locating itself right in the crater of the volcano. There they came across a discovery that changed their perspective on marine life.
An unexpected turn
They realized that inside the Kavachi volcanic crater, a group of sharks were living, inexplicably defying the dangers of nature. In total they found two species of sharks inhabiting the volcanic region; hammerhead sharks and silky sharks. The discovery was recorded for later in an amazing video where jellyfish also appear, apparently very comfortable with the conditions of their environment, as well as fish of different species.
*Credits: National Geographic
Although without a doubt the protagonists are the two species of sharks that surprisingly live in the full crater of the volcano. “You never know what you’re going to find. Especially when you work in such deep waters. The more you think you know the terrain, the more unfamiliar it gets. “We knew we were going to see abundant geology, but we weren’t sure if there were living organisms inside,” said Brennan Phillips, leader of the exploration. “No one has ever investigated its interior. “No one had gone much lower than how far a diver can go,” he adds for National Geographic.
Once again nature has managed to make a 180º turn in the perspective that humans have about their resistance and . Apparently we are still not able to decipher the mysteries and strange ways of survival of some living beings; on the contrary, the unknowns are growing more and more.