WaterWayne
Guest
From Reuters via Yahoo News today:
(Reuters) - A Mexican marine biologist has discovered a new shark species in the murky depths of Mexico's Sea of Cortez, the first new shark find in the wildlife-rich inlet in 34 years.
Postgraduate student Juan Carlos Perez was ... studying sharks from the Mustelus family netted at depths of 660 feet when he noticed some of them had darker skin and white markings.
The sharks, slender, dark gray-brown and around 5 feet (1.5 meters) long, turned out to be a new species that Perez and his team have named "Mustelus hacat," after the word for shark in a local Indian dialect.
...
Worldwide, marine biologists tend to discover two or three new shark species in any given year.
But Perez's find -- bringing to five the types of Mustelus shark found in the eastern North Pacific -- is the first shark discovery in the Sea of Cortez since the tiny Mexican Horn Shark (Heterodontus mexicanus) was identified in 1972.
...Perez...is based at the CICESE science and technology research center at the port of Ensenada in northwestern Baja California state. His find was published in the U.S. journal Copeia in December.
"...it's not a region that attracts scuba diving." (emphasis added)
There are some 50 to 60 species of shark in the Sea of Cortez... famous for its rich and unique ecosystem.
The Mustelus hacat lives in the ocean's depths feeding on shellfish and shrimp," Perez said, adding: "They have very, very small teeth. They are really not aggressive or dangerous."
(Reuters) - A Mexican marine biologist has discovered a new shark species in the murky depths of Mexico's Sea of Cortez, the first new shark find in the wildlife-rich inlet in 34 years.
Postgraduate student Juan Carlos Perez was ... studying sharks from the Mustelus family netted at depths of 660 feet when he noticed some of them had darker skin and white markings.
The sharks, slender, dark gray-brown and around 5 feet (1.5 meters) long, turned out to be a new species that Perez and his team have named "Mustelus hacat," after the word for shark in a local Indian dialect.
...
Worldwide, marine biologists tend to discover two or three new shark species in any given year.
But Perez's find -- bringing to five the types of Mustelus shark found in the eastern North Pacific -- is the first shark discovery in the Sea of Cortez since the tiny Mexican Horn Shark (Heterodontus mexicanus) was identified in 1972.
...Perez...is based at the CICESE science and technology research center at the port of Ensenada in northwestern Baja California state. His find was published in the U.S. journal Copeia in December.
"...it's not a region that attracts scuba diving." (emphasis added)
There are some 50 to 60 species of shark in the Sea of Cortez... famous for its rich and unique ecosystem.
The Mustelus hacat lives in the ocean's depths feeding on shellfish and shrimp," Perez said, adding: "They have very, very small teeth. They are really not aggressive or dangerous."
