Scientists Find New Species in Reefs
Posted on: Tuesday, 19 September 2006, 00:00 CDT
Scientists say reefs off New Guinea are one of the richest marine nurseries in the world with species that include a walking shark and a color-changing wrasse.
A team from Conservation International listed at least 52 new species in the area off the Bird's Head Peninsula, The Telegraph reported. The peninsula is in the Indonesian end of the island, the province of Papua.
The area of 14,671 square miles includes what is believed to be the world's largest Pacific leatherback turtle nesting area, the report said. The immense reefs hide sharks that walk on their pectoral fins at night -- and flasher wrasses, bony fishes with a mating display that includes changing color from red to yellow as they rise in a water column.
Scientists fear commercial fishing threatens this diversity, The Telegraph said. The coast now has a few inhabitants who engage in subsistence fishing.
Commercial fishing could mean the use of cyanide or explosives.
This area isn't going to stand up to that kind of fishing pressure for more than five years, said Mark Erdmann of Conservation International. Reef fish respond more slowly to fishing than other fish. There have been studies that have showed that they don't stand up to commercial fishing.
Source: United Press International
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