New Hammerhead Shark Species Observed
Posted on: Thursday, 8 June 2006, 21:00 CDT
U.S. scientists say they have observed a new, genetically distinct, hammerhead shark species.
University of South Carolina Biology Professor Joe Quattro, collaborating with Jim Grady at the University of New Orleans and Trey Driggers of the National Marine Fisheries Service, reported the find.
Classified under the genus, sphyrna, the species is the ninth recognized in the hammerhead family and will be called the cryptic species until a formal description is announced.
Quattro found the species while studying coastal fish with biologists from the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources. He and his colleagues found that the genes in the mitochondrial DNA -- the DNA passed from mother to child -- differed significantly among sharks that, by all other measures, were scalloped hammerhead sharks.
His studies revealed that another independent genetic marker also differed substantially between the two groups of scalloped hammerheads.
The research was recently published in the journal Marine Biology.
Source: United Press International
Related Articles
- Hammerhead Shark Makes Endangered Species List
- S.C. Scientist Finds New Kind of Shark: Apparently Rare Species is 9th Member of Hammerhead Family
- S.C. Scientists Find New Shark Species
- Scientists Find New Shark Species
- Previously Unknown Species of Hammerhead Shark Discovered
- Another Shark Species is Found
- Struggling to Protect Marine Life: Mozambique, Where Sea Species Once Were Plentiful, Quickly Discovers That Creating Nature Reserves is Easier Than Managing Them
- 10 New Fish Species Discovered in Venezuela
- New Species of Giant Jellyfish Found
 |
 |
User Comments (0)
RSS Feeds