
“Ghost shark” captured on camera for the first time - wglb
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/ct-ghost-shark-captured-on-camera-20161217-story.html
======
hcrisp
Too bad there are more comments about the format of the discovery, than the
actual discovery.

I gathered that this is _not_ actually the first time a ghost shark was caught
on camera, but the first time it was filmed in its natural habitat. It was
seen alive in California and Hawaii in 2011 [0]. There are other ghost shark
photos, such as this one (date unknown, file uploaded July 2016) [1]. Video
has even existed, such as this one from May 2016 [2]. Maybe this is the first
filming of a live Hydrolagus trolli species? What actually happened for the
"first time" here?

[0] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pointy-
nosed_blue_chimaera](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pointy-nosed_blue_chimaera)

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chimaera#/media/File:Deep_sea_...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chimaera#/media/File:Deep_sea_chimaera.jpg)

[2] [http://www.cnn.com/videos/world/2016/05/18/noaa-marianas-
tre...](http://www.cnn.com/videos/world/2016/05/18/noaa-marianas-trench-
expedition-orig-vstan.cnn)

~~~
taylorbuley
Another interesting link: perhaps this creature is now dead because of the
format of the discovery

[https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/2n1yd4/how_is_i...](https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/2n1yd4/how_is_it_that_when_deep_sea_creatures_are_filmed/cm9t27t/)

> I'm a marine biologist and one of my former professors actually did all his
> research on deep sea eyes, mainly in invertebrates. I asked him about it
> once, about whether or not it was harmful to have the submersibles blasting
> white light around everywhere, and his answer was "yep, most of those
> animals are now blind and will likely die." Research subs usually use red
> light when in the deep sea since 99.8% of animals can't see it (red is the
> first wavelength filtered out in seawater so there is no red light at depth.
> Almost all deep sea organisms don't even have photoreceptors to see it) and
> it's not harmful. The white lights are mostly used for filming purposes. But
> yeah, they absolutely are being blinded most of the time.

~~~
Someone
So, that could be the reason for the way this animal behaves (in my amateur
opinion a bit aimless), too?

~~~
pvaldes
Looks more curious than afraid. Investigating the camera probably. If feeling
pain would swim away.

A healthy fish also; not parasites at sight.

------
djstein
the link provided by thefalcon: [http://www.mbari.org/the-pointy-nosed-blue-
chimaera-really-g...](http://www.mbari.org/the-pointy-nosed-blue-chimaera-
really-gets-around/)

has a really well done and informative video at the bottom!

------
tedmiston
Strangely enough what appears to be the same article but published on WashPo
directly [1] plays fine with uBlock on.

[1]: [https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-
science/wp/2...](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-
science/wp/2016/12/17/watch-mysterious-ghost-shark-captured-on-camera-for-the-
first-time/)

------
pvaldes
The claim that is the first time filmed seems very strange to me. Could be
true. I don't know, but chimaera are relatively common and relatively well
known species for its habitat. I had one (dead) in a jar for several years in
fact. On the other hand, is true that are related with sharks, but is a
totally different kind of animal.

------
kefka
[ObOfftopic]

Hmm. Site blacklists me from using site till I turn off adblocker.

I view that as "Program that refuses to run until I turn off Antivirus". Both
avenues are ways for a machine to become infected.

Adblockers prevent a known avenue of attack: js based 0-days and drive-by
attacks.

~~~
yossarianium
I am really hoping that companies are measuring the bounce rate for these
types of tactics.

When I see one of these I could become a subscriber and log in, I could
whitelist the site's advertisements, or I could open Web Inspector and disable
the popup layer manually, but I don't do anything of these things. I
acknowledge its existence and hit the back button.

~~~
kefka
I just sent a LinkedIn email (yeah, spammy horrendous-ness all of its own, but
I digress) to Malcolm CasSelle, the CTO of Tronc, the owner of the Chicago
Tribune. This is the contents.

_________________

I'm [kefka], a systems engineer. I regularly read Hacker News,
[https://news.ycombinator.com](https://news.ycombinator.com) . A user linked
to a story on your property, (
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13206294](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13206294)
) which goes to ( [http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/ct-ghost-
shar...](http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/ct-ghost-shark-
captured-on-camera-20161217-story.html) ).

It's the response that your website gives me when I try to go to said link: "
Advertising revenue helps support our journalism To read today's stories,
please turn off your ad blocker or subscribe"

I get that your company needs to make money, which I greatly understand and
get. However, asking me to quit my adblocker or otherwise disable it is
unconscionable. Advertisement servers have been one of root ways drive-by
attacks are dome on users, combined with Javascript attack ads that end up
with millions hacked. Forbes themselves, with a day of implementing the same
Adblock-shaming techniques ended up being the site that infected 3 million
with DDOS clients.

I am not against subscriptions, or static advertisements. You have to make
money as well. But there's ways to run effective advertisements without
alienating users.

But, if a program demanded you to disable your antivirus, would you? (That's
the kind of situation I'm at).

Sincerely, [Kefka]

~~~
jawilson2
> Advertisement servers have been one of root ways drive-by attacks are dome
> on users

I hope this isn't a copy-paste of what you actually wrote.

------
crabstraggler
That shark is now blind and will most likely die from starvation. what a way
to appreciate the diversity of life...

[https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.reddit.com/r/askscience/com...](https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/2n1yd4/how_is_it_that_when_deep_sea_creatures_are_filmed/?client=ms-
android-samsung)

