'Alien' sharks seen having sex in the wild in never

Biologist Forrest Galante and his camera crew dived into the kelp forest in South Africa and captured what is thought to be a never-before-seen racy moment between two 'alien' sharks

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Rare footage of two "alien" sharks mating in the wild has left experts and shark fans astonished.

As Discovery Channel's Shark Week returns today (Sunday, July 23), biologist and adventurer Forrest Galante has captured the first known video of two pyjama sharks mating in the kelp forest off the coast of South Africa.

In a preview of the series "Alien Sharks: Strange New Worlds", the expert took a look at the lesser-known species..

READ MORE: Shark expert issues Brits terrifying holiday warning as deadly beasts 'always lurking'

When they spotted two striped small sharks "fighting", Galante corrected the cameraman and said: "They are mating!

"Look how the male bites onto her and moves up her body before inserting his clasper into her cloaca."

The two sharks coiled around one another and sank to the seafloor.

A narrator continued: "If it all goes well, she will lay her fertilised eggs on the seafloor and in five to six months, a young pyjama shark will emerge."

Galante commented: "Never in all my years of diving have I seen active shark mating right in front of my eyes.

"Unbelievable, Woohoo!

"These sharks are not only surviving down here but are actually reproducing, which is a fantastic sign."

The team watched the rare moment until the sharks completed copulation.

The footage was taken in the shallow waters of the Great African Seaforest — the only giant bamboo kelp forest on Earth, stretching hundreds of miles from the tip of South Africa to Namibia.

Galante told Live Science: "I think we're the first ones to ever record [pyjama sharks mating]."

"Honestly, just seeing it… I'm getting goosebumps thinking about it because it was such an amazing experience to see this first hand.

"Just as quickly as it started, you just see him let go and boom, they're both gone. And that was it, it was all over."

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