A strange, old-looking, blue-eyed shark was unexpectedly discovered in the tropical waters of the Caribbean when it was caught on April 22 by Belize fishermen and a biologist.
Researchers recently determined that the unusual fish may have a greenland shark or a Greenland shark hybrid in the sleeper shark family – the first of its kind seen in western Caribbean waters.
The strange shark was caught off Glover’s Reef near Belize and the boat crew knew right away that they had caught something special. “I knew it was something out of the ordinary and so did the fishermen, who had never seen anything like it in all their combined years of fishing,” said Devanshi Kasana, a doctoral student at Florida International University who was part of the crew and lead. to the new study, said in a pronunciation.
With an estimated length of up to 3.5 meters, the mysterious shark was released before it could be formally identified. Sleeping sharks are normally found in the deepest, coldest waters of the ocean, with Greenland sharks (somniosus microcephalus) usually living in the Arctic and North Atlantic oceans. The new discovery supports a hypothesis that these sharks may be more widespread than previously thought.
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The discovery of the Caribbean shark occurred thousands of miles away from where Greenland sharks are normally found. Kasana worked with fishermen from Belize to tag tiger sharks (Galeocerdo cuvier) as part of her doctoral research, working with the Belize Fisheries Department and local fishing communities, when they encountered the unusual shark.
An approaching storm forced the crew to release the shark almost immediately for its own safety, so they couldn’t take a genetic sample. For the new study, Kasana and her colleagues examined images and images of the shark taken during capture and found that it shared key features with Greenland sharks and other sleeper sharks, including a rounded snout, low and rounded pectoral fins and an eye parasite. According to the study, the shark was also sluggish and sluggish, as sleeping sharks usually are when caught.
The researchers concluded that it was most likely a Greenland shark, or a hybrid between a Greenland shark and a Pacific sleeper shark (Somniosus pacificus), a similar species in the sleeper shark family.
While the tropics may seem like an odd place for sleeper sharks, the waters around Glover’s Reef are deep, with slopes dropping along the edges from 500 m to 2,900 m below the surface, according to the statement. Sleeping sharks may be more common in these deep, tropical waters than previously recorded, the researchers suggested.
Greenland sharks are the survivor vertebrates on Soil. A 2016 study published in the journal Science estimated that the sharks may have a maximum lifespan of at least 272 years. They forage and hunt live prey and have been found with everything from fish to polar bear (Ursus maritimus) stays in their stomach.
The study was published July 15 in the journal marine biology (opens in new tab).
Originally published on Live Science.