Amorous sharks were spotted having a ‘threesome’ in a world first – but the two males could only manage 63 seconds.
The first male leopard shark was done in 47 seconds.
Dr Hugo Lassauce said, “Then the males lost all their energy and lay immobile on the bottom.”
The Australian researcher caught the rare moment on camera.
It was the first time the species had ever been observed mating in the wild.
Two male Indo-Pacific leopard sharks were spotted mating with a female off the coast of New Caledonia in the South Pacific.
Dr Lassauce, a marine biologist at the University of the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, Australia, filmed the underwater ménage à trios for several minutes.
He is part of the ReShark Collective’s research team, helping to repopulate the near-extinct species in Southeast Asia.
The team has been monitoring the leopard sharks’ behaviour for the past year.
Dr Lassauce said: “The Indo-Pacific leopard shark, listed as endangered by the IUCN, has primarily been studied in captivity, with little information on its natural mating behaviours.”
He added that he spotted the unlikely threesome while snorkelling and observing a group of leopard sharks, also known as zebra sharks.
He noticed two males grasping the female’s pectoral fins on the sand, as reported by Need To Know.
“I told my colleague to take the boat away to avoid disturbance,” he explained, “and I started waiting on the surface, looking down at the sharks almost motionless on the sea floor”.
“We have been seeing and observing some courtship events where the male will try a little bit with the female, but nothing happens.
“This day it just happened… I saw the two male sharks grabbing the female’s fin, and I knew the mating behaviour was coming soon.
“An hour later, it finally happened.”
He added: “The mating behaviour followed a structured sequence, including prolonged pre-copulation positioning, male grasping of the female’s fins and tail, conspicuous siphon sac, copulatory thrusting, and clasper use consistent with previous reports from captive settings.”
The mating event lasted a total of 110 seconds during an overall 90-minute period.
The first male was finished after 47 seconds, and the second was done 16 seconds later.
Dr Lassauce observed: “Then the males lost all their energy and lay immobile on the bottom while the female swam away actively.”
Each shark was about 7.5ft long.
The team said the footage could help inform conservation strategies for the endangered species.
It also suggests that the New Caledonia site could be a critical mating habitat.
They said they “want to find out how many fathers contribute to the batches of eggs laid each year by females”.
Their findings have been published in the Journal of Ethology.
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