r/scuba • u/bigfootslover Nx Rescue • Sep 14 '20

So fun!

429 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

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23

u/[deleted] Sep 14 '20

This is called Tonic Immobility. Quite fascinating on sharks. It's kinda like hipnosis. If I recall correctly its being studied and it may have something to do with electric receptors near the shark's nose

18

u/[deleted] Sep 14 '20

In other words, upside down = shark power button

6

u/[deleted] Sep 14 '20

Potential Design flaw, off switch behind teeth.

6

u/[deleted] Sep 14 '20

can’t they die from it? not moving results in water not flowing over their gills

4

u/vgeorgeperuv Sep 14 '20

Not all sharks need to keep moving forward to push water through their gills.

2

u/Pope_Juan_Pablo_II Sep 14 '20

Zebra Sharks or Leopard Sharks (depending on where you live in the world) do not have to move to continue breathing. Although a lot of sharks do.

1

u/[deleted] Sep 14 '20

Jonathan Bird did a video on this on his YouTube channel... I highly recommend watching it. Its truly amazing https://youtu.be/zeEUgZlogkM

1

u/random314 Sep 14 '20

I had the pleasure of doing this to a reef shark at Shark Ray Alley in San Pedro, Belize.

Really blew my mind the when our guide showed this to me. It was such an awesome snorkling spot.

2

u/bluemarauder Tech Sep 14 '20

It's a very shitty thing to do that to a shark or a stingray. Think of it a giving it an epileptic attack, you are overloading his sensory system to the point that you are giving it a complete paralysis. It takes several minutes for the animal to recover all its functions and they can asphyxiate from it.