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A trio of leopard sharks in New Caledonia has made marine science history after they were recorded mating in a “threesome”.
It is the first time the globally endangered species has been documented in a mating sequence, providing valuable knowledge to aid conservation efforts.
Dr Hugo Lassauce, a researcher at the University of the Sunshine Coast, recorded the event while surveying the leopard shark population off the coast of Nouméa.
While snorkelling, he “spotted a female with two males grasping her pectoral fins on the sand below me”.
“I thought ‘Something is going to happen – I’m staying right here with my GoPros’. An hour later, it finally happened.”
The menage a trois was “over in minutes” – 110 seconds to be precise. The first male took 63 seconds. The second was done in 47 seconds.
“Then the males lost all their energy and lay immobile on the bottom while the female swam away actively,” Lassauce said.
It was the first time a leopard shark had been observed mating in the wild – with any number of partners.
Lassauce said reproductive behaviour in wild sharks remained largely undocumented, though other shark species had been observed mating in groups, with multiple males and one female.
“They’re not like dolphins,” the marine biologist said. Dolphins have been observed “mating all the time”.
The leopard sharks video would help inform conservation efforts for endangered species, said Dr Christine Dudgeon, a marine ecology and evolution expert who has worked with leopard sharks for more than two decades.
She said Lassauce’s video suggested the New Caledonia site was a critical mating habitat. The footage could inform management and conservation strategies.
The rare sighting could also aid artificial insemination research aimed at helping “rewild” the species, currently being undertaken by multiple countries, including Australia.
“It’s surprising and fascinating that two males were involved sequentially on this occasion,” Dudgeon said.
“From a genetic diversity perspective, we want to find out how many fathers contribute to the batches of eggs laid each year by females.”
The University of the Sunshine Coast said in a statement on Monday: “The ‘threesome’ between two males and one female of the globally endangered species is delicately outlined in a paper just published in the Journal of Ethology.”
