Striped creature from the deep – new shark species discovered in Australia

A new species of shark has been discovered during a biodiversity study in Australia. A research team from the Australian science agency CSIRO found a previously unknown species of striped horn shark in Gascoyne Marine Park, a marine reserve on the west coast, on Nov. 23. The animal probably won’t win a beauty contest, but judge for yourself:

The CSIRO research team spent several weeks on the RV Investigator vessel investigating biodiversity in two of Australia’s “youngest” marine conservation areas.

The shark was caught west of the Cape Range peninsula. The unusual: it was 150 meters deep. Horn shark species are actually better known for living in shallow waters. In general, these are slow-moving sharks that spend most of the day camouflaged among rocks and algae on the sea floor, emerging at night to feed. However, the behavior of this new species is still completely unknown.

The captured specimen is now used to describe the species physiologically. This is extremely important for science – we still know very little about what lives beneath the waves, says shark expert Dr Wil Wit.

The scientific director of the research trip, Dr. John Keesing put it into perspective a bit. Discovering new species on trips like this is quite common. “It is estimated that about a third of the species collected during recent RV Investigator exploration trips are new to science,” said Keesing. The discoveries are not limited to new species, but new insights into the frequency, distribution and behavior of known species can also be obtained. (lzo)