Scuba Diver Australasia + Ocean Planet
NEW SPECIES OF DEEP-SEA SHARK DISCOVERED
A new dogfish shark, Squalus clarkae, has been identified from the Gulf of Mexico and western Atlantic Ocean, after being mistaken for another dogfish species
Squalus mitsukurii. The new species, Genie’s dogfish, was named after the late Dr Eugenie Clark – a pioneer in shark biology and the first prominent woman in the male-dominated field of marine biology.
“Many fisheries around the world are starting to fish in deeper and deeper waters, and unfortunately, much less is known about many of the creatures that live in the deep. The first step to successfully conserving these species that live in deeper waters, like Genie’s dogfish, is finding out what is down there in the first place,” explains Dr Toby Daly-Engel, Florida Institute of Technology assistant professor and shark biologist.
Dogfish sharks are mostly bottom-oriented, but can be found in all habitats and depths, though many are found in deep water up to thousands of metres deep. “Deep-sea sharks are all shaped by similar evolutionary pressure, so they end up looking a lot alike,” Dr Toby says, “so we rely on DNA to tell us how long a species has been on its own, evolutionarily, and how different it is.”