WELLINGTON: New Zealand scientists mentioned Tuesday they’d found a brand new species of “ghost shark,” a sort of fish that prowls the underside of the Pacific Ocean searching prey greater than a kilometer deep.
The Australasian narrownose scarecrowfish has been discovered dwelling in deep waters off Australia and New Zealand, in line with scientists from the Wellington-based Nationwide Institute of Aquatic and Atmospheric Analysis (NIWA).
The specimens had been found throughout surveys within the Chatham Rise, an space of the Pacific that extends about 1,000 kilometers (621 miles) east, close to New Zealand’s South Island.
Ghost sharks, or chimaeras, are associated to sharks and rays, however are a part of a gaggle of fish whose skeletons are made totally of cartilage.
Often known as ghost fish, ghost sharks have eerie black eyes and easy, mild brown, scaleless pores and skin.
They feed on crustaceans at depths of as much as 2,600 meters (8,530 ft) utilizing their attribute beak-like mouth.
“Ghost sharks like this are confined to the ocean flooring,” mentioned analysis scientist Brit Finucci.
Finucci gave the brand new species the scientific identify “Harriotta avia” in reminiscence of his grandmother.
“Their habitat makes them troublesome to review and monitor, which means we do not know a lot about their biology or menace standing, however that makes discoveries like this all of the extra thrilling.”
The scarecrow fish was considered a part of a single, globally distributed species, till scientists found that it’s genetically and morphologically totally different from its cousins.
