As untrue as it may sound, we all have to come to terms with the fact that there are sharks that reside in volcanoes. …And no, not in the movies but in reality. Most people would easily accept a two-headed shark or an avalanche shark, but sharks living in a volcano leave a hint of doubt.

Not long ago, scientists stumbled upon an unquestionable sharp-toothed revelation while traversing an active underwater volcano. For those still amazed, yes there are underwater volcanoes in existence.

Brennan Phillips, an oceanographer and National Geographic Society/Waits Grant beneficiary, conducted an expedition into the South Pacific to gather more knowledge on Kavachi- a submarine volcano close to Solomon Islands, which was actively gushing as current as 2014.

Phillips and his teammates were certain that the summit was positioned somewhere approximately 100ft below sea level and that Kavachi had the ability to shoot plumes of magma about a quarter-mile into the air, resulting in temporary islands on the surface of the ocean. However, no-one had ever attempted to examine Kavachi up and close prior. This drove their thirst for learning.

Regrettably, it is daunting to study underwater volcanoes. Reason, you ask? Well, because it is underwater, and also a volcano.

The surprise of the exploration

During the exploration exercise, they dispatched underwater cameras to glance inside the crater, only to discover that something other than Kavachi was also active in the volcano. They found crab, or vol-crab-nos if you prefer and lava-rays, and more surprising, shark. Shark-canos is what they are, and not just one, but several.

Best believe that these hyper-evolved geo-aquatic mutant hybrids are no fiction. However, that’s the only thing known about them- their existence. Phillips, one of the researchers commented that those large animals seem to be thriving well in temperatures much hotter and excessively acidic water than their usual habitat. Which begs the question, “What type of changes did they go through? Are there only specific creatures that can withstand it? Can they tell when the caldera is about to erupt so they flee beforehand, or do they get cornered and die in lava and steam?”

Although no-one has witnessed any shark-canos shooting out like rockets from the ocean on geysers formed from molten rock, one of their greatest weaknesses was discovered- Humans. Shark attacks against humans are extremely rare. Statistics show approximately 30 to 40 people in a year perish from shark attacks. You have at least 1 in 11.5 million chances of encountering a shark attack.

Moreover, there’s no record of any instance of a shark-cano attack in all or human history. This is greatly contributed to by the fact that it’s hard for humans to go 200ft underwater to the heart of a volcano, but who knows. All we know for now is that sharks are all alike, and so are humans.

Every year, humans kill over 100million sharks, to the point whereby 1 in 4 shark species are endangered. In the event the statistics were vice-versa, chances are you would be hiding in a volcano too, wouldn’t you? The survival rate down there is much higher, which come to think of it speaks something.