Description:

Follow @Guide2Rhodes

Ghost Sharks live in the volcano of Nisyros!

Dark figures are wrapped around the unexplored volcanic cones, tens of meters below the surface of the sea. The remnants of solidified lava and deposits of pumice and other volcanic material that sprang from the bowels of the earth before thousands or millions of years, supported the survival of the dark figures.

These are the sharks of the volcano’s, which underwater cameras attached to a submarine robot, discovered and photographed for the first time at the environment in which they lay their eggs. It was a random and unexpected encounter at a depth of 165 meters east of the slope of the volcanic island Glass, north of Nisyros.

The complex geological processes in the volcanic arc, which are a part of the Greek “Orogenetikou” Arc sparked the creation of volcanic islands and underwater structures, never stopped evolving.

So the bottom of the Dodecanese which reaches the eastern side of the volcanic arc, starts an elliptical path from the area of “Methana”, where geological processes are strong. The oceanographic mission a few months ago, under the guidance of Dr. Nomikou, led to the discovery of new volcanic formations and further studies on areas which have not been investigated until now.

That happened due to the exploration of the underwater caldera called "Abyss" because of the depth, at about 670 feet northeast of Strongili island, but also with the walls of the partially submerged caldera of Giali. The island is a volcanic cone starting from a depth of 650 meters from the seabed and displays 120 meters above the surface.

It was east of Giali, where the attention of the Greek researcher instinctively fell into a shadow that moved quickly and the projector of the underwater robot was confronted with the big gray shark length of 4.5 meters.

The gray sharks, which fishermen have spotted in this part of the Dodecanese sometimes are encountered on the surface of the water, are one of the most successful evolutionary species of nature.

Like all sharks they have existed for millions of years now and surely their ancestors have followed the morphological formation from the basin of a volcano. "The volcanic rocks host a large variety and in areas similar to that, sharks find food and reproduce," says Dr. Nomikou.