Sharks' Underwater World Revealed by New Camera Footage [VIDEO]

In an attempt to learn more about the behaviors of sharks, researchers from the University of Hawaii and University of Tokyo outfitted a variety of sharks with cameras and sensors to learn more about how the predatory fishes spend their time.

The equipment offers a "sharks-eye view" into a little understood world, with video providing a rare glimpse at what sharks see, and an array of sophisticated sensors measuring where sharks are going and how they are getting there.

"What we are doing is really trying to fill out the detail of what their role is in the ocean," said Carl Meyer, an assistant researcher at the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. "It is all about getting a much deeper understanding of sharks' ecological role in the ocean, which is important to the health of the ocean and, by extension, to our own well-being."

Meyer and his colleagues presented their research this week at the American Geophysical Union's 2014 Ocean Sciences meeting in Hawaii.

In addition to mounting external sensors on sharks, the researchers are testing a new type of monitor that functions after the shark ingests it. These instruments can provide information on the sharks' feeding habits, such as when and how often sharks are eating, as well as what they are feasting on.

The video footage revealed some never-before-seen moments, including sharks swimming in schools of other species. The researchers also found that sharks use powered swimming more often than gliding to move through the ocean, a new revelation that runs counter to previous beliefs about shark locomotion.

"These instrument packages are like flight data recorders for sharks," Meyer said. "They allow us to quantify a variety of different things that we haven't been able to quantify before. It has really drawn back the veil on what these animals do and answered some longstanding questions."