This ambitious documentary takes a look at what sharks are up to during the midnight hours.
Apex facilitated the Great white shark segment at Seal Island which shows almost unbelievable footage of full blooded aerial breaches of jumping Great white sharks in complete darkness. The Apex crew had done a fair amount of work with Great whites at night from as early as 2001 and certain observations had led us to believe that the sharks were hunting the seals at night as they headed out for the feeding grounds. What took us completely by surprise was how easily the sharks could pick up on our seal decoy, quite clearly showing that sound and vibrations (from the moving prey) are the key elements the sharks use for locating their prey.
This film was particularly hard work as we were working in bitterly cold conditions and long hours of 6am to midnight and 4am onwards…but our reward was seeing some pretty amazing shark behaviour. During the making of this documentary underwater cameraman Mark Rackley spent up to 5 hours at a time submersed in water as cold as 56F. This was the first time that great whites were filmed underwater using both thermal imaging and military spec night vision cameras.
The Shark After Dark crew get ready for a long night
Lights rolling.......
A 4 metre great white heads towards the decoy
Action as a great white breaches.
