New shark species discovered in Indian Ocean; details inside

Researchers from the Pacific Shark Research Center in the United States conducted studies along the Southwest Indian Ridge, an underwater mountain range that runs between Africa and Antarctica, in 2012 and 2014. The team gathered eight deep-sea sharks while studying the seamounts off the coast of Madagascar and began in-depth study.

New shark species in the Indian Ocean

They just discovered that the sharks belonged to a new species of catshark, which they called Apristurus manocheriani in honour of Greg Manocherian, a shark conservationist and researcher. Manocherian's Catshark was offered as a common name.

The California Academy of Sciences' Department of Ichthyology has over a million fish specimens, with thousands more waiting to be researched. You wouldn't want to get too near to a live one because it had a lot of big teeth in both its upper and lower jaws. The male and female of the species are approximately 55cm and 49cm tall, respectively. The findings were reported in the Ocean Science Foundation Journal.

Variety of species

In an email to IE.com, the main author of the study David A. Ebert explained why this species appears strange, he noted that the sharks are an extremely diverse animal, and people do not realise that there are approximately 536 species. The discovery of this new deep-sea species also serves as a reminder of how little we still know about the deep sea. He is the Program Director at the Pacific Shark Research Center and the author of the recently released book "Sharks of the World: A Complete Guide."

More about Catsharks

Apristurus catsharks have been discovered in practically all oceans, including the Arctic, but not the Antarctic. They love slopes, seamounts, deep-sea ridges, and trenches and can be found at depths of 200–2200 metres, according to reports.  This genus contains 39 species, the bulk of which are found in the western Pacific. Six different species have been found in the western Indian Ocean, said reports. 

Longicephalus, brunneus, and spongiceps are the three subgroups of the genus Apristurus. The longicephalus subgroup has a snout that is particularly long, narrow, and slender, whereas the other two have snouts that are shorter. 

Picture Credit: @CoralReefFish/Twitter