In 2012 and 2014, researchers from the Pacific Shark Research Center within the US carried out surveys alongside the Southwest Indian Ridge, or underwater mountain system, that divides the ocean between Africa and Antarctica. Studying the seamount south of Madagascar, the group collected eight deep-sea sharks and started finding out them intimately.
He lately revealed that the sharks belonged to a brand new catshark species and named it apristurus manocherianiIn honor of Greg Manocharian, a supporter of shark conservation and analysis. He proposed a typical title – Manocherian’s catshark.
Amazing that we’re nonetheless discovering new species of shark in 2021! This new (sorry, ugly) was found within the deep ocean within the southwestern Indian Ocean. #shark Week https://t.co/ugV4ZWfZ7X pic.twitter.com/ZjT5sF3odD
— Luiz Rocha, PhD (@CoralReefFish) 12 July 2021
If you need to see preserved specimens of the brand new species, head to the Department of Ichthyology on the California Academy of Sciences. The facility holds over 1,000,000 specimens of fish and plenty of 1000’s are but to be studied. You may not need to get near a residing particular person as a result of it had many massive tooth in its higher and decrease jaws. The common female and male of the species can measure 55 cm and 49 cm, respectively. The findings had been printed in Journal of the Ocean Science Foundation.
unusual species
Asked why this species seems to be just a little unusual, research lead writer David A. Ebert defined in an e-mail to IE.com: “Sharks are a very diverse group and people don’t realize that there are about 536 species. The discovery of this new deep-sea species also sheds light on what we’re seeing right now. Even so little is known about the deep sea.” He is program director on the Pacific Shark Research Center and writer of the ebook ‘Sharks of the World: A Complete Guide’, printed final month.
“The new species is part of the largest shark family – Pentachidae and also part of the largest order of sharks – Carcharhiniformes,” he says. “At the moment we are unaware of any current threats to the species as it appears to live around terrestrial off-limits. However, now that it has been named we can investigate further. The team presents I am working on some additional species from the same area that were also collected as part of the project.”
understanding catsharks
Catsharks belonging to the genus Episturus have been present in nearly all oceans, together with the Arctic, however not the Antarctic. They are largely discovered at depths of about 200–2200 m and like slopes, seamounts, deep sea ridges and ditches.
There are 39 species belonging to this genus and most of them are within the western Pacific. Six species have been reported from the western Indian Ocean.
The genus Epristurus is additional divided into three subgroups – Longicephalus, Bruneus and Spongiceps. The longicephalus subgroup has a really lengthy, slim and slender snout, whereas the opposite two have comparatively brief snouts. The newfound species belongs to the suborder Apristurus spongiceps and is the second identified species to happen within the western Indian Ocean.
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With inputs from TheIndianEXPRESS
