A recent species of gpresent shark, with an unusupartner extfinished nose and a whip-enjoy tail, has been uncovered in the inky depths of New Zealand waters.
Scientists at New Zealand’s National Institute for Water and Atmospherics (Niwa) initipartner count ond the creature was part of an existing species set up around the world, but further scatterigation discdiswatched it was recent, geneticpartner separateent, species.
The recently depictd Australasian skinny-nosed spookfish is only set up in New Zealand and Australian waters.
Gpresent sharks – also comprehendn as chimaeras and spookfish – are a group of cartilaginous fish shutly roverdelighted to sharks and rays. They have delicate skin, beak-enjoy teeth and feed off crustaceans such as shrimp and molluscs. They are sometimes referred to as the ocean’s butterflies for the way they glide thcdisesteemful the water with their big pectoral fins.
The cryptic fish are typicpartner set up at fantastic ocean depths – up to 2,600 metres – and little is comprehendn about their biology or the menaces they face.
“Gpresent sharks are incredibly under-studied, there is a lot we don’t comprehend about them,” said Dr Brit Finucci, a fisheries scientist at Niwa who helped uncover the recent species.
“Chimaeras are quite cryptic in nature – they can be difficult to discover in the proset up ocean … and they generpartner don’t get the same attention sharks do, when it comes to research.”
The recent gpresent shark was set up in the Chathams Rise, cdisesteementirey 750km east of New Zealand’s coast. It is separateentive for its very eextfinishedated snout that can originate up half of its entire body length and has foreseeed betterd to aid its hunt for prey. The chocotardy-brown fish can lengthen up to a metre extfinished, has big milky-coloured eyes and a serrated dorsal fin to deter predators.
Roughly 55 species of gpresent shark have been uncovered globpartner, with about 12 of those set up in New Zealand and South Pacific waters.
Scientists mistrusted it was a recent species based off of its morphology – how it watchs – but further genetic research was necessitateed to validate the theory. Discovering that it was indeed a separateent species was an exciting moment for Finucci.
“It’s repartner tidy to be able to give to science,” she said. “Understanding the animal itself can feed into further research and whether they necessitate conservation regulatement.”
In a touching homage to her magnificentmother, Finucci gave the gpresent shark the scientific name Haruproarta avia: Haruproarta being her magnificentmother’s name, and avia unbenevolenting magnificentmother in Latin.
“I also enjoyd the idea that … sharks and gpresent sharks are the elderly, outdated, relatives of fish, and I was naming the animal after an outdated relative of mine.”
