Hemiscyllium halmahera (Photo Credit: Mark Erdmann / University of Queensland)
Get Steven Spielberg on the phone: I’ve got the plot for Jaws 4.
Researchers at the University of Queensland discovered four new species of tropical sharks that use their fins to walk.
Unfortunately, lacking a taste for human flesh and, frankly, any interest in coming ashore, the fish wouldn’t make for a very interesting action film. They have, however, captured the attention of scientists across the world.
Found in waters off northern Australia and New Guinea, the ornately patterned sharks become an apex predator on reefs during low tides, when they used their fins to walk in very shallow water.
“At less than a meter [3.3 feet] long on average, walking sharks present no threat to people,” according to study co-author Christine Dudgeon, a research fellow at UQ. “But their ability to withstand low oxygen environments and walk on their fins gives them a remarkable edge over their prey of small crustaceans and molluscs.”
These four new species—discovered during a 12-year study with Conservation International and CSIRO, among others—nearly doubled the total number of walking sharks to nine.
Most live in coastal waters around northern Australia and the island of New Guinea, each occupying their own separate region.
A team, led by Dudgeon, compared each species’ mitochondrial DNA—the parts of cells that transform oxygen and nutrients from food to energy—passed down through the maternal lineage.
The only creatures with cause to worry are small fish and invertebrates. (Photo Credit: University of Queensland)
“Data suggests the new species evolved after the sharks moved away from their original population, became genetically isolated in new areas, and developed into new species,” Dudgeon said.
“They may have moved by swimming or walking on their fins, but it’s also possible they ‘hitched’ a ride on reefs moving westward across the top of New Guinea, about 2 million years ago.”
Dudgeon added, “We believe there are more walking shark species still waiting to be discovered.”
The full study was published this week in the CSIRO journal Marine and Freshwater Research.
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